Locational Privacy Issues in US Cities and Counties: Situational Factors, Impacts, and Mitigation

Graduate Research Assistant Work

The dependent variables for the case study analysis are the extent of knowledge and experience with issues of locational privacy and, if actual issues have arisen, the extent of resolution to an ethical issue in locational privacy. The independent factors include attitudes of parties directly involved in the ethical issue, characteristics of/the government setting, strategic importance of the locational privacy, issue, extent of issue’s visibility, implications of lack of resolution, and type of harms possible from non-resolution. A literature review reveals limited knowledge of locational ethical privacy issues in US cities and counties. The methodology consists of structured interviews of officials in seven cities and counties located, in California, Texas, and Georgia. Findings indicate that locational data have benefitted individuals and organizations, particularly in productivity, tracking of workers and workflows, and co-worker engagement. The detrimental impacts of locational data on individuals include effects on privacy, reputation, career advancement, while locational data is adverse to organizations in legal, social branding, privacy, and security aspects. Qualitative text analysis of the interviews allows the extraction of constructs, based on grounded theory, that form a framework for understanding locational privacy. Policy implications are presented to seek to help cities and counties reduce adverse aspects of locational privacy.