[seanflyon]

I think there has been some confusion here. When I said that "The point is not that the world will end if we give away our location data, only that doing so has a non-zero cost" what I meant was that the point is not that the world will end if we give away our location data, only that doing so has a non-zero cost.

Cell phones are like cars, they are very useful but also have their downsides (cell phones reduce privacy, cars kill people). I have a cell phone and a car because I made a decision that the cost was worth the benefit. I did not need to delude myself into thinking there was no cost nor did I need to pretend that the cost was inevitable.

[imgabe]

The threat of a comprehensive database of everywhere I've been is extremely minimal. There's not much someone can do with that that they couldn't do without it. If some whackjob want to wait for me to turn the corner so he can hit me with a sock full of nickels or something, he's not going to get a database of everywhere I've been over the past two years and hang around the coffee shop that I have an 84% chance of visiting on the third Thursday of odd numbered months. He's just going to look up my address and wait in the bushes outside.