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Mobile devices and various applications have become an increasingly essential aspect of daily user activity. A key element common for mobile applications available on the market is that they use geolocation. This functionality supports desirable actions to be performed in respect of personalized user expectations. Although the functionality provides a number of benefits, it may also be a source of potential risks to its users. Not only does it expose their views but it may also limit their civil liberties. The article discusses issues related to the access to private data through geolocation services on mobile devices. It focuses on quantitative and qualitative research involving a sample of two hundred most popular free applications in Poland. Research questions aim to obtain information about the nature and the percentage of applications that require access to dubious or special permissions, implemented tracking codes, or trackers, as well as to verify the correlation between tracking codes embedded in applications and requests for access permission. The explanation of technological conditions and processes conducive to aggregate seemingly inaccessible data and possibilities of their use was essential to the success of the research. |
