Location Data Runs Amok?; Uber Eyes Ads

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The Dark Side Of Location Data

It can be surprisingly easy for a marketer to step from aggregated, anonymous data to identifying and tracking individual people, The New York Times shows in a big feature on location data. Using an unspecified data set consisting of location data gathered through apps, the newspaper’s reporters were able to identify mobile users by name and get in touch with them. The reactions of these “de-anonymized” people are unsurprising: “very scary,” “disturbing” and so on. The article does highlight some smart, responsible approaches to obscuring location data that may expose an app user’s identity. The location data company Factual, for instance, says it doesn’t collect home addresses. Another scrambles data around home locations to obscure individuals. But these solutions are far from widespread. “Some companies say they delete the location data after using it to serve ads, some use it for ads and pass it along to data aggregation companies, and others keep the information for years.” More.

Uber, But For Ads

Uber has its sights set on ad revenue ahead of its long-awaited IPO. The ride-sharing app previewed one way it’s experimenting with ads in India by offering enhanced visibility for restaurants with discounts on Uber Eats. Uber sees other ways to bundle advertising into its services, like offering discounts to people who pick up food orders while riding in an Uber. Eventually, Uber could use its reams of data on riders to create an ad marketplace where restaurants compete to reach the right audience. “[Restaurants are] going to be spending those ad dollars somewhere,” Stephen Chau, senior director and head of Uber Eats, told TechCrunch. But Uber will have to demonstrate that it can exert leverage over consumers’ food choices before advertisers pay up. More.