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Not knowing how to protect one’s own privacy can expose the user to excessive risks. One of the hottest technologies is the GPS, and it is now being used in cell phones and cameras. This has enabled people to locate unfamiliar places and establishments. However, privacy concerns have been raised because of the undefined limits on the use of this tracking technology. New models of cameras and phones are now outfitted with GPS. Users enjoy its features from simple photo taking to uploading on the internet.

The concerns center on the risks involved with anybody being able to locate a user by accessing his or her cell phone data. At the present time, phones can store data on the position of a person, specifically location. The phone owner’s location data can be easily mapped – where he or she had been for a period of time – with the assistance of Google maps.

Exchangeable Image File, or EXIF, is used in GPS-enabled phones or cameras to store photos. This is now commonly used by almost all new models of digital cameras. Kept photos will include data regarding shutter speed, F number, exposure compensation, ISO number, date and time the image was taken, etc. These are all information about qualities of the stored data and do not pose problems on privacy. It is the capability of cameras to store GPS information that ignites privacy concern because anybody can easily locate where the photo was taken.

Apple and Google have made public their belief on the privacy matter. According to them, users should not pass on the accountability of protecting their privacy to others. Even if the technology is there, users still have the ultimate choice of whether or not to use it. Users can basically disable or enable GPS features in their phones. Google also made clear that identification numbers of each phone signal cannot be traced to a specific handset. Google assigns a distinctive signal for each handset as part of each policy.

Some groups of users have contradicted the idea of turning off GPS features. They say that GPS is such a convenient technology that ignoring it makes one less smart since there are lots of new apps that are location enabled. These groups believe that setting aside this feature on one’s phone will render it “useless”.

Users can continue to pressure phone manufacturers and lawmakers to set limits on the use of GPS data. They can also hope that the government could move faster in order to catch up with the fast-changing technology. Meanwhile, the best that can be done for the moment is to protect one’s own privacy.

This can be done by limiting the sharing of data, especially GPS enabled photos, online. One should take time to think considerably before uploading photos to any website, especially social networking sites. Users should be informed that most sites continually ask the user whether or not he or she wants to disclose the information before posting. This makes one fully accountable for his or her own privacy.

It is not just cell phones that can give away your location. Every time you access the Internet you are letting others know where you are. To surf anonymously us an anonymous proxy to mask your location.

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