The Data Ownership Geolocation Quicksand
Written by Evan SchumanThe ability of a retailer to know precisely where any mobile-phone-using consumer is at any given moment—coldly dubbed geolocation—has always been a delicate and dangerous issue, with perceived privacy problems never straying far from the conversation. But what happens when the nature of the service requires that the retailer or service provider know the exact location of the consumer?
In those mandatory situations, who owns that data? Given that there are no laws or even strict guidelines today about such capabilities, what’s to stop a retailer from using the data for one legally mandated purpose—such as collecting state taxes—and then using it for an unrelated purpose, such as marketing or sales?
As a practical matter, the most problematic of these issues are those dealing with digitally downloadable content, including software, music, videos, E-books, games and even pornography.
(Sidenote on pornography. In the very early days of the Web—it was late ’95—I was working at a large business-to-business publisher and a very senior editorial strategist was analyzing the best and more intelligent content on the Web, across a wide range of verticals. When she discovered that a handful of pornographic sites in those days had Web traffic that obliterated most of the top news sites put together, she included the most succinct and analytical slide I’ve ever seen. The slide analyzing that fact had only three words: “Men Are Scum.”)
Because much of mobile commerce will deal with physical items that are shipped to the consumer or delivered to a store near the consumer, no great geolocation magic will be needed to determine where the customer is when obtaining the product. But with products that can be sent directly to the phone, the legal ground has barely been walked on. A few examples to consider of when geolocation may be needed:
Mark Rasch, the former head of the U.S. Justice Department’s high-tech crimes group who today is in training to become a Master Curmudgeon, wrote in to describe his experience with an iPhone and a Major League Baseball app that allows MLB.tv subscribers to watch non-blocked-out games in their entirety.
“Until the new app surfaced however, MLB could tell what your ‘home’ city was based upon the zip code of the credit card you used. So clever baseball fans in New York would ‘swap’ their subscription with fans in Nebraska so they could mostly watch the home teams. Not any more,” Rasch wrote in an E-mail. “The new app uses the iPhone’s GPS and compass (or cell tower information for older iPhones) to determine precisely where you are when you try to watch the game. If you are too close to Fenway Park, no Red Sox games for you.”
Rasch’s point was who owned the data after the game authorization was completed? Who could that data be sold to?
Cards issued by European banks when used online cross border don't usually support AVS checks. So, when a European card is used with a billing address that's in the US, an ecom merchant wouldn't necessarily know that the shipping zip code doesn't match the billing code.
-Marc
