Privacy Group Calls Google Latitude a Real 'Danger'

CWmike writes "Privacy International is calling Google's new mapping application an 'unnecessary danger' to users' security and privacy. The criticism follows the unveiling this week of Google Latitude, an upgrade to Google Maps that allows people to track the exact location of friends or family through their mobile devices. Google Latitude not only shows the location of friends, but it can also be used to contact them via SMS, Google Talk or Gmail. 'Many people will see Latitude as a cool product, but the reality is that Google has yet again failed to deliver strong privacy and security,' said Simon Davies, director of London-based Privacy International, in a statement. The group's chief concern is that Google Latitude lacks sufficient safeguards to keep someone from surreptitiously opting into the tracking feature on someone else's device."

Comments

Re:Everyone focuses on the negative

[Mike Buddha]

Yeah, cause Vista takes so long to reboot. It takes hours and hours and hours. That's so funny, because it's true. It really does take hours and hours and hours to reboot. Yeah, that's funny.

Re:I can't see how it's that dangerous

[cathector]

how many non-technical friends do you have who think getting their computer totally overrun with malware sounds like a pretty good idea ?

probably not many.

but how many of those non-technical friends have computers which are totally overrun with malware because they install shit willy-nilly ?

.. people are dumb, and lots of people will install this without thinking it through. so yeah, tier-one popular software providers [should] have an obligation to protect people from themselves. whether google's efforts in this direction with the software at hand fall short, as TFA suggests, i don't particularly know. but the argument "don't install it if you don't want it" isn't particularly germane.