Nielsen: Over half of mobile users concerned about location privacy

April 21, 2011 By Geoff Duncan

New survey results from Nielsen find that half or more of mobile users are concerned about privacy issues around sharing their location via phones.

New survey results from market research firm Nielsen finds that while location-aware services and applications are increasingly popular amongst consumers, half or more mobile phone users are “concerned” about the privacy implications of sharing their location with advertisers, businesses, and other third parties—even if it’s on a voluntary basis.

Overall Nielsen found that concern over location privacy varied by age. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of mobile users aged 55 and over said they were concerned about sharing location information; that figure dropped to 61 percent amongst users aged 45 to 54, 56 percent amongst users aged 35 to 44, and reaches its lowest point (50 percent) amongst users after 25 to 34. Curiously young adults and teens express more concern: 52 percent of users aged 18 to 24 said their were concerned, and 55 percent of 13 to 17 year-olds were concerned.

The report also found differences between men and women: overall, 59 percent of women were concerned about sharing location information, compared to 52 percent of men.

Nielsen’s survey focused on users who had downloaded a mobile application within the previous 30 days.

The survey results come in the wake of significant publicity surrounding the iPhone and Apple’s 3G-enabled iPads keeping a log of the device’s location based on cell tower data.

Nielsen forecasts consumers will become more comfortable with sharing location information as they get more familiar with location-based applications and the benefits they offer. However, that supposition is dependent on mobile operators—as well as app developers and marketers—doing nothing to violate the trust users place in them by sharing personal information. As Facebook has discovered with social networking—and as Apple may be discovering with the location logs in its iOS devices—privacy breaches cast long shadows in consumers’ memories.

Showing 3 comments

Michael Schmidlen at 9:46pm 21st April 2011 @David-The whole point of this issue is that the user SHOULD be able to decide who they want to share their personal data with, instead of the carriers or Google & Apple doing so without our consent. It's NOT an issue about whether or not we're voluntarily giving up these rights, because that implies consent, which if it has been sought at all, it's been in extremely small print buried deep within a EULA...
Jeremy Steele at 9:24pm 21st April 2011 Mobile users should be concerned. The government mandated in the mid-2000's that all cell phones must have a GPS chip for "emergency purposes." That means everyone who has a relatively new phone (which is probably about 90% of mobile users) can be tracked via GPS.Not saying they ARE tracking you, but... they CAN.
David Nakamura at 9:01pm 21st April 2011 When you purchase a GPS enabled device, you pretty much voluntarily give up those privacies. Outside of disclosing my location for scenarios where I'm somehow at risk (ie. when I'm at work, my kids are alone, etc), I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Don't like it, get yourself a flip prepaid phone that doesn't have that technology.