The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) has released new industry guidelines to help promote the privacy of people using location-based services (LBS) on mobile devices.

The association also released a number of tips for consumers that would help them maintain privacy when using the technology, which targets services to users based on their mobile phone location.

AMTA chief executive officer Chris Althaus said a number of commercial location-based services using mobile technology are already on the market with more services expected soon.

“LBS provide exciting opportunities for consumers and business, however, although the benefits of LBS are expected to be substantial, the application of such services means there is the potential for misuse,” he said.

“Our industry has set practical steps that we believe should be followed by all location service providers (LSPs) to help ensure that customer privacy and safety are adequately safeguarded.”

LSPs include phone companies, which offer LBS services directly to consumers or provide services through third parties on their networks.

The guidelines specify that every LBS must be provided on an opt-in basis with a specific request from a user for the service, must conform with all relevant privacy legislation, must be designed to guard against consumers being located without their knowledge, and must allow consumers to maintain full control.

They specify that customers must be able to control who uses their location information and when that is appropriate, and be able to stop or suspend a service easily should they wish.

AMTA’s consumer advice informed LBS customers to be cautious about with whom they shared their location information, and suggested they restrict privacy settings that may be more open than they would wish on the default option.

Althaus said there are also a substantial number of LSPs providing LBS directly to consumers without the mobile operators having any visibility or control of the service, especially when consumers download applications from the internet.