Global Positioning System (GPS) is a series of satellites orbiting the earth, providing the location of a GPS receiver. This allows us to find a destination or track journeys using a SatNavSatellite Navigation 鈥 Hardware device that receives gps information from satellites (or smartphone) but also brings many ethical concerns.
However, other smartphone apps are guilty of background location reporting and many people regard this as an invasion of privacy. Information about your whereabouts could be shared with organisations without our consent.
Who owns this data?
The satellites used for GPS were created by the United States government to track military personnel. These same satellites are used to convey GPS information to third parties.
This has led to confusion over who owns the actual data. Is it the individual owning the GPS, the US government that created the satellite, or the company gathering the data?
Many modern cars are equipped with a type of 'black box'. The black box can know exactly where you are, how fast you're driving and many other details of your driving habits. Who owns that data? The insurance company? The car manufacturer? The driver? These are ethical and legal questions to which the answers have yet to be agreed.