From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Protecting Privacy of Consumers' Mobile Device Location
Data

Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Mark Goldstein, Director,
Physical Infrastructure

Related GAO Work: GAO Work: GAO-12-903: Mobile Device Location Data:
Additional Federal Actions Could Help Protect Consumer Privacy

Released: October 2012

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[ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and
information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's October
2012. Mobile industry companies collect location data from smartphone
users. In many cases, they share this data with third parties to provide
users with location-based services and to increase revenue through
targeted advertising. A group led by Mark Goldstein, a director in GAO's
Physical Infrastructure team, recently reviewed the issues surrounding
these practices and what the public and private sectors are doing to
protect consumer's privacy. GAO's Jeremy Cluchey sat down with Mark to
learn more.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] Location-based services on smartphones are so
prevalent today. Can you talk about some of the implications for
consumers?

[Mark Goldstein: ] Sure. There are millions upon millions of people
today who have a smartphone and other kinds of devices that have
applications on them which have access to people's location. All they
have to do is press a button that says, "Yes, you can use my location."
And it's very helpful in many instances for applications to have
locations; they provide navigation tools, they provide services for
individuals and consumers who want to go to restaurants or other kinds
of places. So it's really important in many ways for people because they
give greater utility to their phones. On the other hand, there's a
tradeoff because a lot of these location-based services, these
providers, pass on that information; consumer's private information
about where they are and what they might be accessing to other parties,
third parties, and consumers don't know in many cases that that's
happening.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] Your team looked at some of the recommended
practices that have been developed by the private sector related to
privacy; what did you find there?

[Mark Goldstein: ] We found there aren't very many rules and in many
ways, this is still the "Wild West" of the electronic era and there's a
lot of work that still needs to be done. There are through industry
associations and some companies, voluntary guidelines and some rules
that apply. Most companies do have a policy in place that sort of
describes to consumers what their policy is; that they can use and hold
their data, but it doesn't necessarily describe very well what they'll
do with that data, how long they'll hold that data, and how and to whom
they'll pass that data on to others, to other third parties. And so
consumers really don't know most of the time that a company will collect
that data, hold it, use it, and potentially pass it on to other parties
who have perhaps even fewer rules about how they'll use that data. So
it's a very murky world today.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] And on the federal side of that equation, how have
agencies tried to protect consumer privacy?

[Mark Goldstein: ] The government is concerned, but they're here to
learn a lot of rules. Congress is still trying to figure out how to come
down on these kinds of issues and recognizes that there's a tension
between use and privacy; between accessibility and applicability and
privacy. And so the Federal Trade Commission and a part of the Commerce
Department have been developing and working on guidance and rules and
there are some in place, but they agree that more guidance is still
necessary. But it is, in large part, still a voluntary sort of operation
on both the private sector and the public sector and there aren't a lot
of what we would normally think of as regulations in place that have
very specific requirements. It's still an evolving world and that is why
consumers need to be careful.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] And the recommendations GAO's making on this report
build on those findings; can you talk about some of the recommendations?

[Mark Goldstein: ] The recommendations really went to the issue of
trying to encourage greater issuance of guidance at this point in time
because we recognize there's not a significant regulatory framework
that's in place right now. And so we have encouraged government to try
and facilitate a better working relationship in and among industry
participants so that the private sector and the government together and
come to a better understanding of what guidance ought to look like and
what kind of standards should be in place. And then the government will
ultimately, you know, be responsible for issuing guidance in the future
that can help refine what the rules ought to be.

[ Jeremy Cluchey: ] Finally, for taxpayers interest in how their
location data is being used or could be used, what's the bottom line
here?

[Mark Goldstein: ] The bottom line is to be cautious; to certainly use
their phone to the maximum capability. They have smartphones which are
smart. They should allow them to be smart, but they should be smart too.
The people--the consumers, the taxpayers--ought to recognize that this
is still an evolving field and abuses, while they haven't been many,
could become more prevalent as more applications come online. As more
and more Americans use and rely on their phones for more kinds of
things, this could become an issue that becomes more and more important
to people.


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