Loopt is a the location-aware social-working tool that was demonstrated alongside the launch of the iPhone 3G at WWDC '08, and it's now available for download from the Apple apps store via iTunes. Let Loopt get a fix on your location using the iPhone's a-GPS, and it will tell you where in your area your friends are. It will even, I think, allow you to send them short notes. (I say think because I don't actually have any contacts on Loopt yet, so it's difficult to try out some of the apps more social features.)
I got a chance while at the recent Focus on Locus conference at Columbia to talk with Brian Knapp, Loopt's chief privacy officer. The main takeway from both that discussion and Brian's formal presentation is that Loopt is eager to set themselves up as brave protectors of their users' privacy, even as the law around location records remains extremely fuzzy. Brian: "When the government comes knocking -- even if they have their hats on backwards and look tough -- we're going ask for a warrant." Huzzah.
But I refer to Loopt's "users" in the paragraph about on purpose. You're not paying anything for Loopt. Your contract is with your service provider, which is likely AT&T. There's a deal implicit here. You get a neat service that lets you know your friends are knocking back Negro Modelos at Burrito Bar, but Loopt has to find a way to keep the lights on in their Mountain View offices.
Brian was asked at the conference about Facebook's Beacon, a feature that broadcast off-site behavior to a user's social network. Advertisers loved it. It made privacy advocates cry themselves to sleep. Brian conceded that Beacon raised all kinds of privacy concerns but offered a defense, saying "Facebook is free and an amazing service. In some ways, there are tradeoffs here..." In other words, nifty online tools carry a price, even if they're free. Given the wealth of information Loopt and other location-aware apps will have on us, it's worth asking what that cost is.
