Here Technologies: location data sharing needs fundamental rethink

76% of 8,000 individuals surveyed across eight countries feel stressed or vulnerable about sharing their location data, according to a new study by 7643 Here Technologies (Here). The report highlighted concerns that companies are abusing public trust in how they gather and use location data, which it claims will mean a fundamental rethink is necessary to help consumers embrace new services such as autonomous cars.

The respondents stated that insufficient controls for management of personal data along with a lack of transparency on the part of data collectors are the main reasons behind this feeling. It was conducted on people in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

Additionally, 20% of participants believe that they have full control over their location data, with 44% sharing location data with apps and service providers unintentionally despite trying to restrict access.

Here’s report showed that consumer trust could be won through increased transparency and control over how location data is collected and used. 70% stated that they would grant access to a data collector if they knew why their location was needed and that it was protected. A similar amount said they would also allow access if they could more easily change their settings, withdraw access and delete their history.

Most respondents expressed openness to utilising new technologies to help people manage their data. 63% specified that they would use a privacy service to manage their privacy settings based on their preferences on any device that they use. 51% said they would trust private data management needs to an artificial intelligence bot.

Greater car safety ranked the highest for benefits gained by sharing their location data with 73% who confirmed that they would be likely to share their location data.

For future scenarios, 72% of consumers would be willing to share their location data for an autonomous car to find the most efficient routes.

More findings and a full copy of the study is available %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here Here PDF link false https://www.here.com/file/27196/download false false%>.