As the popularity of location-based
services like Foursquare has grown, so too have concerns about privacy. The
revelations by the Wall Street Journal in Spring 2011 that Apple and Google
were surreptitiously and continuously collecting personal, private location
data from iPhone and Android phones spurred privacy groups and Congress to
launch investigations. In June 2011, the Federal Communications Commission, in
cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, sponsored a forum to discuss the
social impact of location-based services, both positive and negative. Industry
representatives from Facebook, Google, and Foursquare argued that existing apps
as well as corporate policies were adequate to protect personal privacy because
they rely on user permissions to share location (opt-in services).
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