AppCentral Blog

Big Brother is Tracking You

by Ken Singer

I remember reading a while ago that police departments around the country are now taught to monitor Facebook regularly, because that’s a good way to keep track of whoever they’re pursuing. Yes, folks, criminals on the lam get caught because they post their whereabouts on Facebook. (Let’s add this to our search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.)

I keep that little factoid in mind because in some ways it’s a perfect representation of the zeitgeist, an extreme example of schizophrenia in the era of social networking. We all say we don’t want the government or employer or anyone else to know what we’re up to, yet many of us chat, post and tweet regularly on every aspect of our lives. We yearn for privacy, but we define it on our own terms.

I bring this up because the constant battles over this issue are getting even more heated. One in particular caught my eye not because it ties into an issue that’s on our minds quite a bit here at AppCentral. On another level, it’s also interesting because it’s another milestone in the parallel journey taken by technology enablement on the one hand and human behavior on the other.
Essentially, it’s a new iPhone and iPad app called Footprints (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/footprints/id400119299?mt=8),which ‘tracks and shares locations automatically—in real time, all the time.’

This app, and others like it, shine a spotlight on a fundamental question: As everything from social networking features to sophisticated geo-location technologies become more embedded in our daily lives (and vice versa), how do we distinguish between personal life and public domain?

For the record, Footprints is essentially an extension of social networking capabilities. With this technology, the company says, ‘family and friends can locate each other, parents can keep track of their children’s whereabouts, couples can know that their loved ones arrived safely at their destination, and managers can keep track of employees in the field.’

Let’s focus on that last part, shall we? First, the very idea that parents tracking children belongs in the same sentence as managers tracking employees is going to make some business professionals really uncomfortable. And it should.

For the record, the intersection of geo-location software and social networking capabilities might serve a purpose. For example, in the case of a large corporation with a dispersed workforce, it can create a physical connection between employees who would otherwise not know each other. I can also see how it would help co-workers headed for the same place on different schedules coordinate their activities—say, two marketing employees out to pitch the same prospect.

Yet there’s also a Big Brother aspect to the whole thing that’s very unappealing. I’m sure there are many more technologies like headed down the pike, and some industry observers are already saying that it’s good for managers who need to oversee company-owned devices with company-owned data. Perhaps more importantly, these tools enable companies to track the employees who carry those devices. But just because employers can do something doesn’t mean they should.

As business professionals, we have the right to protect corporate data, and to expect productivity from our co-workers. But productivity and trust don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, with good management, they go hand-in-hand.