The thing is, as we learned with Netflix (and… everything lately), even if it starts off convenient and reasonable, that will last only long enough that they think they’ve cornered the market. So unless something changes to guarantee an ongoing reasonable proposition, i will never trust them again.
How is Australia or Assange related to it?
Grindr reports down to single digit metres… That level of accuracy is certainly not needed and potentially dangerous. I’ve had stalker issues with Grindr before… Imo the radar aspect can be preserved while simply capping the accuracy or reporting at “<500m”, because seriously that’s close enough to know someone is literally less than 5 minute walk from you.
Sniffies is a similar app, but includes an option to randomise your location within a certain radius that you can set. So you can still determine people are “nearby” or get an idea of their general distance and location, without being able to literally hunt them down.
Great article, totally agree with the author. I would still be concerned with that power moving to the government, particularly in countries with limited options for true representation (eg. two party systems, where it is usually more a matter of “lesser evil” voting), but that then becomes the next challenge; still more appropriate in the government’s hands than the level of power corporations currently wield.