Now he gets it.

CBS News had a segment this morning on how businesses track and sell location data. It was a well-done segment, and if you have family members who need to be made more aware of the risks,  maybe you can find it online for them to view (the transcript is here, but the video would be more powerful if we can find it somewhere — UPDATE:  a reader found it for us:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe37ANivFdY).

Anyway, it was nothing new to anyone who has already been alarmed by what companies can and are doing with location data, but the CBS segment actually made a difference for my husband, who came to ask me, “Did you see that?  That’s DISGUSTING what they are doing. So my house can get robbed because they know I’m at the animal shelter walking dogs? That’s DISGUSTING.”

He’s right about the risk. The info can certainly be easily misused to figure out people’s habits and when their homes are likely to be unguarded or what their route might be on a regular basis and at what time(s).

So now he finally gets why some of us have been sounding alarm bells about location data and advocating for better privacy protections and regulations in this country.

But will my husband turn off location services in his phone now? Did he even have them enabled, and did he know whether he had them enabled? Stay tuned….