No Place to Hide: A Study of Privacy Concerns due to Location Sharing on Geo-Social Networks

Abstract—User location data collected on Geo-Social Networking applications (GeoSNs) can be used to enhance the services provided by such applications. However, personal location in-formation can potentially be utilised for undesirable purposes that can compromise users ’ privacy. This paper presents a study of privacy implications of location-based information provision and collection on user awareness and behaviour when using GeoSNs. The dimensions of the problem are analysed and used to guide an analytical study of some representative data sets from such applications. The results of the data analysis demonstrate the extent of potential personal information that may be derived from the location information. In addition, a survey is undertaken to examine user awareness, concerns and subsequent attitude and behaviour given knowledge of the possible derived information. The results clearly demonstrate users ’ needs for improving their knowledge, access and visibility of their data sets as well as for means to control and manage their location data. Future work needs to investigate the current state of personal data management on GeoSNs and how their interfaces may be improved to satisfy the highlighted users ’ needs and to protect their privacy. Keywords–location privacy; Geo-social networks; mobility pat-terns; privacy concerns. I