The cute logo that never truly fit the concept should have been my tip off to not hit “down load now”…Gowalla. That intriguing application that allows you to “check in” where you are for all the world to note and see you hop from place to place (hence the kangaroo-like logo, I’m assuming).
Gowalla is like a GPS device that tracks your every move if y0u so desire, and does so loudly. This is an all, or nothing, announcement. Trevor puts it best when he wrote:
“This would be a great app, but it has one fatal flaw that makes it completely unusable: there are absolutely zero privacy controls. Anyone can go on the Gowalla website and see your profile and all of your movements without even logging in (much less being your friend).”
Initially, I thought Gowalla could be fun and allow me to find cool places to explore in different cities. If you use it just for that purpose, there is no harm and no privacy concerns. No one will know you are even on the site. However, if you post where you are, there is no “retract” button…it’s now out there and that’s the issue.
The issue is that whether we are real friends or online friends, we shouldn’t want to know that much about each other and shouldn’t want to have the world know what we are up to when we are with our kids. I worry when I read Gowalla posts such as “I’m at Starbucks with my daughter” or “at the blankety-blank baseball field watching my son’s game”. Why in the world do you want everyone in your area to know where you are with your kids?
We have to be more judicious with these new programs and more critical. Just because someone develops them and they seem fun, doesn’t mean the are worth trying, safe or worth our time.
In the case of Gowalla, it’s bad news. It’s privacy train wreck with our personal lives caught in the collision. I truly don’t want to know what you are doing with your family and where when you have a few moments to be with them offline…and you shouldn’t want me to know that. The fact that any of us could even think that’s ok for a second is incredibly disturbing to me. Being tracked by each other is where I draw the line…and so should you.
That said, if the program allowed us to update our status to a select group, it could have benefit. The meet- up potential if we could have closed group and privacy settings is enormous. But, alas, there are no closed group or privacy settings on Gowalla. Everything is public for all to note.
So, Gowalla is a no go for me, and is now off my iPhone.
