InformationWeek. com News, analysis and research for business technology professionals, plus peertopeer knowledge sharing. Engage with our community. Illinois Wants To Ban Location Tracking Without Consent. Its increasingly difficult to do anything on your phone nowadays without sharing your geolocation information. Certain Snapchat filters, Facebook status updates, Instagrams, and even text messages are all potentially tied to geolocation data. Its relatively simple for app developers to build in geolocation functionalityand many services require users to opt in to sharing location data. But now the state of Illinois wants ensure that all companies extracting geolocation data from individuals must provide an opt in, or else theyll have to pay up. Last week, both houses of the Illinois state legislature passed the Geolocation Privacy Protection Act HB3. Now, its on the desk of Governor Bruce Rauner, waiting to be signed into law. If signed, companies would be required to inform users of how theyre using the location data they collect, if the users decides to share it. Companies who dont adhere would be in violation of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and would face criminal penalties and damages of at least 1,0. There are a few exceptions to the law. For instance, private entities can collect geolocation data without consent if the information will help parents find missing children or aid firefighters, police, or medical professionals. How To Install Pc Linux Os Full Monty Live Usb' title='How To Install Pc Linux Os Full Monty Live Usb' />The new law might not have a huge real world impact, given that most devices and apps already ask people for permission before they start using location data. But this might encourage more tech companies and app developers to give users the option to opt out of being tracked. There have been plenty of times in the past when companies have faced repercussions for tracking users without their consent. Chinese manufacturer DJI has announced that owners of its Spark drone have until September 1st to update their firmware to the latest version or be totally locked out. Luke Plunkett. Luke Plunkett is a Contributing Editor based in Canberra, Australia. He has written a book on cosplay, designed a game about airplanes, and also runs. For instance, Apple and Uber have been sued for allegedly tracking un notified users. Ari Scharg, director of the Digital Privacy Alliance DPA, told Gizmodo that the organization has done reports on the apps Selfie. Rate Selfie Pic Hot Or Not, which give developers precise GPS coordinates whenever a person uploads a photo. When a person is just browsing through the photos to rate them, if they were intercepting the backend traffic, they would be able to get the GPS coordinates of each person they viewed, Scharg said. Overall, a person could use this information to stalk someone or the owner of the picture could retaliate against a person that left a bad comment if they were capturing the traffic. The DPA urges app developers to be transparent with users by clarifying how location data is being used. The organization has been advocating for the bill, and even wrote an open letter to Governor Rauner, which was signed by more than 2. Chicago area tech companies. Una Paloma Blanca Song Free Download there. Illinois has a reputation of passing strict data privacy legislation. The states Biometric Information Privacy Act prohibits tech companies from using biometric identifierslike face scans and fingerprintswithout consent. Their Right To Know Actwhich passed in May, but was put on holdrequires companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google to disclose what data has been collected from consumers and shared with third parties.