Assume the permission: Google wants your data

With or without your permission, Google wants you to share your location.

As you can see from the above screenshot, I received an email from the Internet behemoth kindly informing me that my Android phone was broadcasting my location via Latitude - the Google service that allows users to share their whereabouts with their friends, and funnily enough, Google.

As an Android user who attaches some value to his privacy - otherwise known as a masochist - I was shocked to learn that I had automatically, and involuntarily been opted-in to reporting my location, and that I needed to access the Latitude settings on my handset to opt out again.

Mobile World Congress attendees who last week watched outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt's somewhat creepy keynote presentation will remember that he pledged to only share consumers' personal information with their "permission". A mantra he chanted on numerous occasions.

In light of my Google Latitude experience, perhaps he was protesting his innocence just a little too much.