Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

Guest Post: “Of Payments, Privacy, and Social Networks” April 15, 2012

As I have been out of town at a charity event and had little time to blog, I am publishing a blog from the incomperable Dr. Heather Mark 😉  Please enjoy…

“By now, many of you have probably heard about the smartphone app creatively and aptly named “Girls Around Me.” For those that have not heard, it is essentially an application that aggregates the “check in” location data of women using Facebook, foursquare, and other social, location based services.  It then displays for the user the locations and names of “girls around” him (or her, I don’t think the app discriminates).  The app promises to “turn your town into a dating paradise.”  For privacy professionals, the app sparks an interesting debate.  Is privacy infringed if the person in question volunteers the information.  On one side of the argument are those that would say “no – if the user has volunteered information then privacy is not compromised by the application.”  The converse of that argument, however, is one that centers on a definition of privacy that hinges on the appropriate use of information.  If the user did not volunteer the information in an effort to join this “dating paradise” then privacy is certainly infringed.  Certainly, one can see that the application in the wrong hands has the potential for misuse.  But, what if we use the information for good, rather than evil?”  read more here!