Apple Patents Location Sensitive Privacy

The Apple Insider reportsthat Apple has applied for two patents recently, one for context sensitiveprivacy and one that adjusts display settings based on amount and direction ofambient light sources. The contextsensitive privacy option is interesting:

“Thesecond, called “Location-sensitive security levels and setting profilesbased on detected location,” would adjust device security settings basedon the current “location context.” Apple envisions that the contextcould be determined by network availability, the identification of a specificdevice available on a network, GPS location, or a combination of those andother factors.

Locationscould be deemed “safe” or “unsafe,” and settings adjustedaccordingly. A user’s home could be marked as a “safe” location andPIN code relock time lengthened to reduce the number of times a user mustauthenticate in that place. “Unsafe” locations would lengthen thattime, for exmaple.

Applehas been seen exploring similar systems in the past. While the basic conceptremains the same, the methods of determining device location differ.”

Setting multiple security levels for multiple locations willalmost certainly overwhelm most consumers so a simplified approach will need tobe identified.

Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation for Mercator Advisory Group

Read full story at Apple Insider