"There's the privacy concern, maybe you don't want billions of people to know where you live," says Alan Brill, senior managing director, Kroll Advisory Solutions, who points out that smartphones with GPS chips today will embed geotagging information into the photo you upload to social-networking sites. It's fairly simple to use interpreter software that's freely available online to cull that geolocation data out of your photo, Brill says. In fact, this is happening today in military situations where adversaries watch for photos posted by the other side, he adds.

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There are implications about GPS for businesses, too, according to Kroll, which recently sent out an advisory to its clientele on the topic. Regulatory agencies around the world, especially in Europe, are starting to consider whether geolocation information should be considered sensitive data. And that means that businesses that collect and store geolocation data as part of marketing campaigns will need to start regarding it as something that they one day may find carries a huge legal burden in the event of a data breach.

Brill says he's especially concerned about geotagging in photos when it comes to children and teens who frequently post photos online, not knowing that it likely is possible for strangers to figure out where they are. The device GPS function can be turned off, and in most cases, it probably should be, Brill recommends. GPS can help with getting road directions, but there are so many unexpected ways that personal GPS information is being collected today.