Educate Parents, Children about LBS Risks, Rewards, FTC Official Says
Parents should seek to educate themselves and their children about the privacy implications of location-based services (LBS), mobile industry experts said at a joint public forum hosted by the FCC and FTC in Washington Tuesday. In the 21st century it’s becoming increasingly important for parents to communicate to their children what the parents’ values are for offline behavior and encourage them to retain those same values while online, said Nat Wood, assistant director of the FTC division of consumer and business education. At the same time, developers of applications and mobile services have a responsibility to implement better notice and transparency into their LBS technologies, Wood said.
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There is a real lack of awareness about what location-based services can and can’t do, said Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). A recent Microsoft survey found that 94 percent of mobile users saw great value in using LBS, said Brendon Lynch, chief privacy officer at Microsoft. But 84 percent of the same group said they had real concerns about their personal privacy when it comes to LBS, he said.
Helping parents and children increase their knowledge about the value and pitfalls of LBS can be achieved through tools, rules and schools, said Balkam. The industry must offer easily understood privacy tools on their mobile devices, adopt universal rules of the road, and work with schools to explain to teachers, parents and students what location-based services do, said Balkam.
Companies can address consumer LBS concerns by applying the concept of privacy by design into the technologies they build, said Lynch. Microsoft addressed the issue by ensuring that location-based services on its Windows phones are turned off by default, he said. The first time a consumer accesses a phone with LBS is the “right time” to ask them questions about their privacy preferences, Lynch said. Service providers should clearly display the value exchange of LBS “because that is what people are looking for,” he said.
Another way carriers and app developers can better inform consumers and parents about location-based data privacy is by implementing periodic permission reminders and LBS option reviews, said Balkam. “Consumer privacy could be much helped if service providers and app developers offer us the ability to check these from time to time,” he said. In addition, privacy statements and LBS notifications should be especially clear and understandable when it comes to teens and children, said Alan Simpson, vice president of policy at Common Sense Media.
Nevertheless, it remains incumbent upon parents to take the initiative to learn and communicate their expectations and rules concerning their children’s use of LBS, said Wood. “Parents have a role in talking to their kids about how to be safe and to protect their reputation and experiences online,” Wood said. “Even if you don’t have the technical background you have to have a relationship with your kids and ask them to help you. It’s amazing how many people do not feel comfortable doing that.”