I’m a teaching assistant for a Venture Capital class taught by two technology venture capitalists. I’ve recently noticed a new email signature they use and got curious.
I clicked on the signature and was taken to the page my.loki.com. MyLoki uses location/GPS technology to alert the world as to your location – as specific as your privacy settings allow. You can add it to your email signature, as my professors have, or you use it to automatically update your Facebook page or blog. Your friends can even subscribe to a feed of your location, letting them know anytime you change your location. MyLoki uses the same technology as the iPhone (it was created by the same company), but rather than use the nearest WiFi spot to connect you to the internet, MyLoki uses it to determine and broadcast your location.
From a privacy standpoint, MyLoki makes me nervous. It feels a bit like a homing device that allows your friends to stalk you. But, it and others like it are a marketers dream. As we’ve discussed in class, internet marketers salivate over opportunities to segment viewers in any way possible. Tools, like those provided by Google, certainly help advertisers and marketers. However, the ability to adjust content shown to viewer by location means endless possibilities for marketers. One can imagine seeing an ad for a local retailer’s 1-day sale that is only a few blocks away from you. In essence, services like Loki provide marketers with just another weapon in their arsenal toward producing relevant, timely content to potential customers. Personally, I’d rather have my privacy – or whatever is left of it.
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