There has been substantial controversy over the past couple of weeks arising out of revelations that some smartphones, most notably Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices, have been logging certain location-based information.  Lawsuits have been filed, a state attorney general has started demanding answers, and an inquiry by a U.S. Senate subcommittee has been scheduled.  And then the South Korean police raided Google's Seoul offices.  But is the logging of location data really such a surprise, and is it worthy of all of this concern?

On May 3, 2011, I had the opportunity to speak to J. Craig Williams, co-host of the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast on the Legal Talk Network, and Joshua A. Engel, Vice President and General Counsel for the Lycurgus Group, about these issues.  The conversation touched on the nature and extent of the data gathered, reasonable expectations of privacy with respect to the information used by smartphones, and the lawsuits recently filed against Apple and Google in connection with their data collection practices. 

You can listen to the podcast here.