We really don't need Congressman Rick Boucher teaming up with the privacy pundits, the FCC and others to monitor how we use our telephones (draft of bill here )  I happen to like the idea of location based marketing and really do not want Congress stepping in the middle of this one.

Let me start by quoting a marketing manager from Mobext, a mobile marketing business owned by Havas:

"If you want to do anything location based, you must ask permission each and every session." 

I certainly hope other companies are not following this same mind set.  If they do, the user experience will be annoying and bothersome...  Consider the following scenarios:

An iPhone user downloads the Travelocity phone app and sends the following search request to Travelocity:

Find nearby hotels

Travelocity phone app sends this response to the user;  Do you want me to access your location?

User:  Uh,yea - how else will you find hotels nearby if you don't access my location?

It's good to get permission to use location specific information but let's hope Congress stays out of the conversation so companies can respond to users in a way that is set by the users.  In other words, let's keep it in perspective.  If I use an app to search for something that is nearby I am implicitly giving the app permission to use my location in order to tell me what is nearby.

Is it different if businesses are pushing ads and offers as I drive by?  Yes.  I don't want an offer via SMS text, voice or email from every hotel that I drive by on the freeway at 10pm at night.  As the owner of my device I'll tell them want I want and when it's okay to send things to me.

However, I'm a loyal Marriott customer.  If I tell Marriott it's okay to contact me with location specific offers at10:00pm at night, that's my choice to do so and I don't want Congress legislating a rule that says "If you want to do anything location based, you must ask permission each and every session."

Here's an example of an SMS text message that Marriott could send at 10:00pm as I'm driving down the freeway through Dallas:

"Mr. Gilyeat: there is a Marriott Courtyard 5miles ahead near exit 232 - would you like to stop at this hotel this evening?  If yes, click here and I'll immediately check for availability and connect you with the front desk."

Personalization and SMS text messaging can make for some very convenient and welcome mobile marketing.  It's not intrusive and I don't want Marriott to ask me if it's okay if they access my location.  I already opted-in to the program and I'm okay if they know where I am when traveling.

As private citizens we need to remember that customers can tell companies how they want their information to be used.  We see this happening with Facebook, AT&T and many other companies.  I believe we don't need Congress to step in the middle of the conversation.  The free market will address the issues just fine.

www.electiangilyeat.com