I feel like the LBS development are focused on marketing purposes and privacy issues might be underestimated in this domain. Profit is a major interest and priority before individual’s privacy concerns. The article of Rao and Minakakis shows that the way that LBS can be profitable and worth the developments in this field is by gathering information, conducting data mining and ‘business intelligence activities’ to extensively understand consumer’s profiles and shopping habits. The authors recognize that there are ethical and privacy issues related to the use and disclosure of information to third parties but do not engage with this topic. I’m wondering if developing business models on one side and leaving the privacy issues to privacy advocates on the other side is a good approach in the development of the technologies and LBS…
S_Ram