Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App

[jsr]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/facebook-is-said-to-create-mobile-location-tracking-app.html

Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App
By Douglas MacMillan

Facebook Inc. (FB) is developing a smartphone application that will track the location of users, two people with knowledge of the matter said, bolstering efforts to benefit from growing use of social media on mobile computers.

The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to help users find nearby friends and would run even when the program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

Facebook is adding features to help it profit from the surging portion of its more than 1 billion users who access the service via handheld devices. The tracking app could help Facebook sell ads based on users’ whereabouts and daily habits. It may also raise the hackles of consumers and privacy advocates concerned about the company’s handling of personal information.

Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have already scrutinized Menlo Park, California-based Facebook amid concerns that it doesn’t do enough to keep data private. Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have similar tools for continuously keeping tabs on user whereabouts.

[MadHound]

1. Another good reason to stay away from FB,

It is becoming more Orwellian all the time. Worse, people continue to submit to their Big Brother tactics willingly.