The invasion of privacy through your mobile social phone

Among the applications were functions such as text messaging, web browsing, a diary, Orkut - the company's social networking offering - and a program for Google Maps. Innocent enough, perhaps. But combined they would allow Google to know what you are doing all of the time. A truly Orwellian development that has been described by privacy campaigners as "a catastrophic corruption of consent".

Far-fetched? Not at all.

The mobile phone industry has for years seen the potential for a rich market to develop in location-based services if only it could get its customers to agree.

Google, on the other hand, has decided to take advantage of that market and it has sought to do so by appearing to be helpful. The rationale is simple - offer a service for free and the customer will not notice that they have given a company the right to know where they are at any time.

This is clearly the reason for the inclusion of Orkut in the package. If social networking can be united with mobile, and location can be offered as a service so friends know when they are near each other, then location-based marketing can be offered to clients.