Disconnecting from Location-based Services

The research presented here was carried out with students using smartphones, and measures two disparities. The first is between the usefulness, practicality and ease of use of location-based applications, on the one hand, and the diffuse fear that those services threaten confidentiality and privacy, on the other. While virtually all the students interviewed found these applications useful and practical, three quarters of them thought that location-based services (LBS) presented risks, with an overwhelming majority feeling “tracked and watched”. The second disparity is between users’ self-assessment of their ability to use LBS skilfully, and their actual ability to do so. For certain applications, this difference proves considerable. While the fear of leaving private traces through LBS is very real and is coupled with the belief that control is always possible, users’ practical capabilities and concrete know-how in no way support this belief.