EU raises the barrier for geolocation data

Geolocation data is personal information concludes EU

The barriers to offering geolocation services as part of a social media strategy may be about to rise, after European Union (EU) officials said such information should be covered by data protection laws.

Geolocation data – which is becoming increasingly common thanks to the rapid adoption of GPS-enabled smartphones – should be classified as personal data, concluded the EU data protection working party, because it can easily be used to identify individuals.

The working party also recommended that users are asked to consent before any of that data is used for new services or provided to a third party.

Growing interest in developing social media-type applications for the enterprise has encouraged many to explore the use of geolocation services, such as improving parcel tracking or helping sales teams plan their optimal routes.

In late 2010, Forrester Research analyst Reineke Reitsma reported that geolocation services would increasingly be seen as a potentially useful way to deliver targeted marketing.

The EU decision will also impact companies such as Apple and Google, both of which have a track record of collecting vast troves of data from their users.

If geolocation data has to be treated as personal information, it will place a far greater burden on those who retain it, both in terms of the security around storage and in allowing individuals to discover what information pertaining to them is being held.