What are location-based services?
Some mobile customers use location-based services to help them find useful information like traffic news, or local amenities such as banks, shops and taxis.
The service works by identifying the approximate position of the user’s handset. Sending a location request to the network does this. A reply pinpoints the base station closest to the mobile. Accuracy can vary from as little as 50 metres to several kilometres.
People can also locate - or be located by - friends and family for safety purposes. But this requires consent from both parties by way of text-message alert and acceptance.
By default, a mobile user can only be located by services that they have agreed and signed up to on request – such as calling Trafficline on 1200 for local traffic reports in the UK.
O2 UK customers can change the privacy settings on their phone by contacting O2's customer service. These includes 'child finder' services and 'passive' services, which operate when a mobile phone user has enabled the service and consents to be located by another person such as a parent.
We know there are many benefits to location-based services – including the ability for parents and carers to keep track of their children when on the move. But with these benefits comes the potential for misuse and inappropriate contact – for example through stalking.
For more information visit the following pages in our extensive online resource
Issues in brief
O2 plc
- Safety first
- What are the issues?
- Keeping a close watch
- A policy of child protection
- Putting a ring around bullies
- Assisting emergency response on July 7
- What are location-based services?
- A matter of life and death
- Pictures and the law
- Collective action on spam
- When should we intercept?
- Privacy at what price?
- Data retention and protection
- A question of balance
