Here is a deal that all smartphone developers should ignore. You receive free access to a new Mapquest SDK for Android and IOS, in exchange for all your customer’s data. This is a complete breach of user privacy.
I am sure that users of a smartphone app will not give Mapquest and their a third party tool, complete access to their data. Would smartphone developers actually disclose that all your data will be sent to Mapquest?
We’re extremely excited to announce the launch of our new Mobile Navigation SDK for Android and iOS applications. Our Mobile Navigation SDK is available to you for free, if you agree to a mutual flow of data sharing.*
* Data collected through our Mobile Navigation SDK includes: routes, speeds and location observations. MapQuest for Business, a Verizon company, may utilize this information for a variety of purposes, which you can read here. You may access your own data through a firehose visualizer at no additional cost.
Mapquest SDK is free for smartphone developers, if they provide Mapquest all their customer’s data.
Let us try to use an example app. You develop an app that uses maps. Your customers download this app and use Mapquest data. Will you disclose to your customers that Mapquest will receive all your data in exchange for the use of their maps? Will you, as a developer, tell your customers that they have no choice and cannot refuse?
Developers need to make money to live, but there are ethics involved here. The current industry standard is to sell your customer’s data and privacy to third party tools, in order to fund the development costs, and hide these facts. This results in a breach of privacy for your customers.
In a nutshell, selling of customer data without their consent is wrong, unethical and needs to stop. It should also be illegal.
