Protecting your digital imprint

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - According to the Pew Research Center, 85 percent of adults own a cell phone and 77 percent of teens do too. So, basically everyone! And a smartphone is much more than just a talking device nowadays. It is our pocket-sized mobile everything - allowing us to stay connected 24/7 and possibly showing others where we are 24/7.

Nearly all new smartphones sold on the market have built-in Global Positioning System, or GPS. It is utilized by mapping services and used by a number of apps. However, do you know how to make it work for your convenience, and not against your privacy?

"Most people don't realize what kind of footprint they can leave without really even trying," said Dave Salisbury, associate professor of information systems at the University of Dayton, in the Department of MIS, OM and Decision Sciences.

Salisbury said there are some simple steps to make sure you're only sharing location data when intended.

"As time moves on, where you've been is only interesting to marketers because they're trying to sell you things," he said. "Where you are right now is interesting to anybody who has less friendly intentions."

Mobile apps for Twitter and Facebook use location data. You can disable location services through your phone's main settings menu if you want to better protect your location.

You can enabled it for mapping, but say not for social networking. That way, when you tweet or post to Facebook, your location won't be seen.
Also, each app allows you to personalize privacy settings for your account. So, be sure to familiarize yourself with those terms.

When it comes to mobile photos, if the GPS is enabled on your smartphone, location information will be embedded onto the image, said Salisbury. He said this includes the street and latitude and longitude coordinates. Which, when searched on Google Maps, can pinpoint where the image was taken.

This data is removed, or not available, once a photo is uploaded to Twitter or Facebook, according to their respective public relations reps. But, there are other providers that do not block this data, so read the privacy settings.

One thing you cannot turn off is the content seen in a photo uploaded to social networking sites. So, avoid including location giveaways if privacy is of the utmost importance to you.

"It is an issue of understanding the features on your devices," said Salisbury. "Making sure your children understand the features on their devices and the kinds of information they may unwittingly be giving away about where they are in real time."