LocaShare
Group Members
- Sharon Paradesi
- Scott Greenwald
- Yu-Han (Tiffany) Chen
- TA: Katrina Panovich, kp@mit.edu
Problem Statement
There are two main types of location data sharing today. The first is done in a way that is largely invisible to users -- when an app is installed, it may request to collect location data. The user generally does not keep track of which apps track information, and also has no idea what this data is used for. The second way is through services such as Foursquare and Latitude, which allow users to explicitly share particular location data. The user’s options are very specific -- share your specific location right now with other users, or do not. Both of these types of location data sharing suffer from a lack of user control over how information can be regularly shared, with whom it can be shared, and how it can be made more granular, so as to share only at a level of detail which is relevant for the purpose. They also do not take advantage of the potential for companies to provide incentives to users for sharing location data with them.