Loading Profile...
Allowing profile pages to be made private
Disclaimer: I don't care about privacy much as I have everything public (including my location) on my website but this is more for other people and to stop potential problems in the future.
I was thinking today that everybody's Gowalla pages are public which means that you can "stalk" a Gowalla user incredibly easily. For instance, if I want to know when a particular person is not at home, I can just watch their profile page (I don't need to be logged into Gowalla to do this) as it contains details (date sorted) of every place they have been. If I check that every 15 minutes (or wrote an auto script) then I can see where somebody is at the moment which is pretty bad in terms of privacy.
My suggestion would be a "make my profile private?" toggle in the settings panel which means if you try to access http://gowalla.com/users/bendodson/ whilst that setting is on, then it'll say "This profile is marked as private - send bendodson a friend request?" and then they would only be able to view it if they are logged in and I have authorized them. Think of it a bit like a private Twitter page.
The only potential problem I can see with this is what happens to individual spot pages as these display information about people such as "bendodson dropped a gowalla board here about 1 day ago" but I think limiting access to a profile would massively reduce the privacy problem as you'd need to know the spot they'd been to in order to view that spots detail and by that time they already know where you've been....
So yes, add a privacy feature before someone who really does care about privacy starts playing and realises that they have unwittingly published all of their movements with a 1m accuracy across the interwebs!
I was thinking today that everybody's Gowalla pages are public which means that you can "stalk" a Gowalla user incredibly easily. For instance, if I want to know when a particular person is not at home, I can just watch their profile page (I don't need to be logged into Gowalla to do this) as it contains details (date sorted) of every place they have been. If I check that every 15 minutes (or wrote an auto script) then I can see where somebody is at the moment which is pretty bad in terms of privacy.
My suggestion would be a "make my profile private?" toggle in the settings panel which means if you try to access http://gowalla.com/users/bendodson/ whilst that setting is on, then it'll say "This profile is marked as private - send bendodson a friend request?" and then they would only be able to view it if they are logged in and I have authorized them. Think of it a bit like a private Twitter page.
The only potential problem I can see with this is what happens to individual spot pages as these display information about people such as "bendodson dropped a gowalla board here about 1 day ago" but I think limiting access to a profile would massively reduce the privacy problem as you'd need to know the spot they'd been to in order to view that spots detail and by that time they already know where you've been....
So yes, add a privacy feature before someone who really does care about privacy starts playing and realises that they have unwittingly published all of their movements with a 1m accuracy across the interwebs!
I’m concerned that this isn't in as standard
16
people like this idea
I like this idea!
Tell me when this idea gets some attention.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The company has this in progress.
The best point from the company
-
Hey Ben — Thanks for the feedback. We've given a lot of thought to the privacy implications of Gowalla. In fact, we've already baked in "private profiles" as you refer to them in the code.
We opted to not activate that feature at this time because we simply do not know what the use patterns of the app are going to be and what the development cost of supporting certain specific levels of privacy filtering are.
It is very important to us and we're planning ahead on this one.
All the same, we encourage everyone going out with Gowalla to exercise common sense with the information shared, the same way you would on Twitter, etc. Look for more from us in the future on this subject.
I’m grateful for the feedback
The company thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?Hey Ben — Thanks for the feedback. We've given a lot of thought to the privacy implications of Gowalla. In fact, we've already baked in "private profiles" as you refer to them in the code.
We opted to not activate that feature at this time because we simply do not know what the use patterns of the app are going to be and what the development cost of supporting certain specific levels of privacy filtering are.
It is very important to us and we're planning ahead on this one.
All the same, we encourage everyone going out with Gowalla to exercise common sense with the information shared, the same way you would on Twitter, etc. Look for more from us in the future on this subject.
I’m grateful for the feedback
The company thinks
this is one of the best points
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Sounds great Josh - I was sure you were on the ball but have noticed more and more people joining each day so thought it best to mention it so it didn't get lost in the no doubt growing pile of new features :) -
Inappropriate?Another privacy aspect, from another direction ~ when I first began to make spots I made a couple at the homes of relatives. One relative objected and the spot has since been removed, but this is something to think about when making spots.
I’m glad it was reversible and won't make em without asking again!
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Yeah, we want to encourage folks to use discretion with spots that you add to Gowalla. If something makes you uncomfortable, just don't add it! Good advice.
-
Inappropriate?I already have been targeted for burglary in the past, and have had friends, who have been targeted for burglary. The longer you leave this feature out, the more likely Gowalla will be used in ways it shouldn't be. It's a dream for someone who's planning a crime. Of course, this is very easy to change just by flipping the privacy switch. Default it to off, for starters! That way it won't affect your app much, but people who are concerned don't have to stop using your app because of it. From a technical standpoint I don't see the concern. From a business standpoint of course I do, but where are your priorities?
I’m anxious
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Again, this is something we're working on and expect to have in place soon. Thanks for your feedback.
-
Inappropriate?I would like my profile to be private just because I don't want everyone in the free world to see where all I go or have been. The only people I would like to see it are the friends I accept. Thanks for looking into this for us!
2 people think
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?Yea, I'd like to have some sort of privacy settings as well. -
Inappropriate?A discussion with a friend developed these thoughts:
1. I should be able to turn on protection.
2. If I'm protected, only my friends should be able to see my Top Spots, Stamps, etc. Seeing my Pins, Friends and Items doesn't seem problematic to me.
3. If I'm protected, people should probably still be able to see that I've been somewhere where they're checked in (founding is all about bragging rights, so it makes sense to show this). This includes So-and-so Dropped a Whatever here 1 day ago, etc.
4. If I'm protected, someone should have to be logged in to see my user page at all.
This might make my user page somewhat anemic to non-friends, but y'all seem to be using Facebook and Twitter for friend discovery, mostly, anyway.
These four points, coupled with friends-only spots (for my house, for instance) would give users a lot of control with only two toggles to deal with on the coding side (profile_protected? and spot_protected?).
I’m glad to see this discussion going on before someone freaks out.
-
Inappropriate?+1 to all of Ben's points.
There's a bit of copy when accepting new friends that initially mislead me to believe Gowalla handled privacy automatically.
Please do implement this feature. -
Inappropriate?I'm new to Gowalla and really want to use the service, but I'm hesitant because of privacy concerns. I really don't want everyone to be able to see where I've checked in and where I am at any given time, but I don't mind giving this permission to my friends.
In the very least, the toggle option that Ben suggests would suffice. I definitely think I'm not an edge case, and there are a lot of other people who use Gowalla if they could share with only their friends.
Eventually, you could have even more granular settings that allow users to choose the exact people they're sharing with for any given location (similar to Friend Lists on Facebook), but the either or option works for now (just friends or everyone).
I hope this feature gets added soon, so I can begin using Gowalla! Until then, I'll keep following this thread.
As an aside, here's an interesting article I came across this weekend about celeb-obsessed teens using Internet tools to stalk/rob their fave celebs: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/fas...
I’m sad that I have to wait to use Gowalla.
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?I would love to see some granular settings for privacy - maybe hiding just my current loction, but still show the past locations or adding some kind of delay to the updates on the public page. My friends could get notified immediately when I check in, but the profile page would update only e.g. after a day.
I’m expectant
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?The lack of any privacy seems to be the number 1 reason everyone I know is choosing to not use this service. It's so much fun, but I see their point. I don't mind someone going to a spot and seeing that I've been there. What I do mind, though, is that someone I don't know can pull up my info and see exactly where I've been and when I was there. That's fine for friends, but not complete strangers.
This was recognized as something important months ago. Any updates? I don't think most users are going to give this thing a chance without a little control around privacy.
I’m wishing Gowalla met the privacy needs of more people.
-
Inappropriate?The lack of any privacy is the one and only thing that keeps me from using the service the way I'd like to. I'd like to see an option where check-in times are only shown to friends. All other people may see spots but not check-in times.
I’m confused
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
EMPLOYEE
