Google Latitude: now Google will know where you are 24/7

Google has entered the geolocation social networking space with Google Latitude.

Like existing market leader Loopt, Google Latitude allows users to see when they’re near other users, and track where people are. Google Latitude includes support for Google services such as Google Talk, and is being offered as part of Google Maps, as opposed to a fully stand alone service.

Google Latitude is available now for Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian (Nokia) phones with support for Java enabled phones and the iPhone to follow. Support is offered for 27 countries.

Geoaware social networking services have been held up as the future for years, and while some players have built reasonable audiences, it has never really taken off in a huge way. Google doesn’t have a great track record with anything remotely related to social networking (Orkut, big in Brazil), however they do have one advantage here: Google Maps has become the default map service in many phones. Even if they don’t seek Latitude, many people will have it on their phones, and that may well drive strong uptake.

Privacy advocates will be completely shitting themselves over the ramifications though: yes, you can turn it off, or hide yourself from others, but this is a service that shares your location where ever you are, and with millions, or even tens or hundreds of millions of potential users in the future, Google will now know where people are physically, and that’s scary. And don’t think such juicy data wont come to the attention of authorities either; if you’re using Latitude, Google will have a database of where you’ve been when.Big brother is watching.

Update: Google advises that they don’t keep all previous locations, only your last location. Still a little scary, but significantly less evil.