Kadek Yuni Antari's MIS304

Google Maps is one of the important tools in this modern and digital era for everyone’s life. As technology develops, people often use Google Maps for their contemporary needs such as traveling, e-marketing supply chain management, business planning, and overuse of mobile phones. In addition, Google Maps also becomes one of the cloud computing trends that shapes the digital future by using the internet as the platform for application. Moreover, Google Maps gives an impact in human daily life by helping one to explore geographical location anywhere in the whole planet. Most people rely on Google Maps before or while driving to get the fastest or the shortest route. However, under the massive use of Google Maps lies the potentials problem that can threaten its users such as:

• Security

It is a great technological development all over the world that helps millions of its users in getting good quality geographical information such as finding paths, locations, places, distances, and making rational decisions based on the provided information. Unfortunately, Google Maps has generated negative impact in term of security which is rarely known by most of people. First, Google Maps allows anonymous user to login into the application. As the result, it provides anything that is requested by the user without specific logging history or security checks. By using the guidance from Google Maps, criminal-minded people can commit crime. These anonymous users can find the information to getting know of the sensitive insight related to the places for target killing, terror attack, trailing a potential victim, compromising a national security, and demanding ransom money without any notification. Furthermore, Google Maps can be accessed anywhere without being verified and does not make any history logs for the anonymous users who commit cyber criminals (Burney, Asif, & Burney, 2018). Second, Google Maps can collect and hold the details information about your activity through the timeline menu. Not only provides the details information about where someone goes every day, but Google Maps also provided the details time for each location such as what time people left and arrived at the next location. Also, Google Maps have any photos that people stored in the Google Photos. It’s kind of creepy since Google Maps has tracked the history of human activities.

Due to this security problem, some countries such as Indian start to rejected the Google plan to map the South Asian country through the street view. To avoid the security concern of the country, India only allowed Google to mapped several places such as tourist attractions including the Gateway of India in Mumbai and the Taj Mahal in Agra rather than give the detail street level. The Defense Ministry of India also state that the main concern was the security of sensitive defense installations, since it was easy to monitor the services when it was launched and it will detrimental the national security from the cyber-crime activities (Murgia, n.d.).

• Privacy

Google Street is one of the parts of Google Maps that provided street-level photos and satellite images which allowed people to add photos trough the Panoramic services. It’s kind of awesome services that helps a million of its users to do research online before visiting a store, tourism places, company visit, and many others. The services of Google Street also allow people to know the places look like both inside and outside that give people valuable information through this virtual tool. But, behind all the extraordinary uses of Google Street, it raised few privacy concerns for its user. The online accessibility of maps and the satellite images can threaten individual privacy due to the pictures and other data gathered. The gathered data does not only threaten individual privacy but it also threatens government privacy, the criminal-minded people can do many criminal activities using the data.

Although, Google using blurring software to blur people’s face it was not 100% effective. People still can be identified by other details information such as clothing, vehicle details, sidewalk panoramic when people walking down, people’s houses including the window and other details information that easy monitor by bad users. In term of privacy and safety, the picture that provided by Google Street View becomes a concern for the parent since their children showing up in the street view and their house image also captured and displayed in this virtual tool. In addition, the privacy concern from Google Street View also raised a potential problem due to the Wi-Fi controversy. Some countries such as Canada and the United States have conveyed their concern related to the capture of Wi-Fi data during Street View mapping (Smithee, n.d.). While the capturing image, Google Street View also collects and monitors the information from Wi-fi networks as well as captures the detail personal information when monitoring unsecured networks.

People who are living in this digital era want to do everything quickly and efficiently. I strongly agree that technology can make our life easier. Regarding Google Maps, we actually do not have any concern with the good user but we have a serious concern for the criminal user that can dangerous our privacy and security. After knowing the dangerous effect of using Google Maps, I hope people will understand how to use the Google Maps application properly to protect their own security or privacy. One of the best ways is to click on a little drop-down menu and click remove which directly erase our past from the day. This is kind of activity should be done regularly to control all of your histories, but of course, Google Maps has been tracking our history for every long time and if we have turned on our location it might take a long time to erase it. One of the suggestions that I would like to recommend for future services, every user needs to be signup that will give Google Maps reliable information including user contact, name, city, country and give the history logs. 

List of References:

Burney, A., Asif, M., & Burney, S. (2018). Google Maps Security Concerns. Scientific Research. doi:10.4236/jcc.2018.61027

Murgia, M. (n.d.). The Elegraph. Retrieved from Google Street View banned in India due to Security Concerns: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/06/10/google-street-view-banned-in-india-due-to-security-concerns/

Smithee, T. (n.d.). It Still Works. Retrieved from Is Google Maps a Threat to Privacy: https://itstillworks.com/google-maps-threat-privacy-2657.html

Hello, my name is Kadek Yuni Antari. I’m a student at Sampoerna University majoring in marketing and Business Administration with the University of Arizona. I am passionate about marketing, I love to communicate with others, make a relation find networking and manage various activities. I also love to explore digital marketing, most of my activity today is learn and working in digital marketing field, especially as Search Engine Optimization specialist in start up company.   

I write this WordPress to give you a piece of important information regarding the security and privacy concerns of Google Maps that can threaten us. Hopefully, you got the new information that useful for you.