Comments on: Why security concerns prevent me from using TripIt

By: Ty

Ty — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:17:31 +0000

I came across this old post and thought you’d be interested in a similar site that addresses this security issue; http://www.jetwerk.com

Jetwerk allows you to select who you post your trips to thus avoiding broadcasting to the internet, “take my plasma t.v., I am out of town.”

You can do this on a per trip basis and also set up your profile so only members in your network can see you.

Check it out.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:37:55 +0000

Hi Tim,

Thanks very much for your input. Yes, I just had the same thought the other day when I turned on my Out of Office to speak at a conference. “Wow, I’m broadcasting that I’m away. Maybe there’s a problem with that.” I don’t have a good answer because somehow I do want to let people know when I’ll be tied up, but still….

By: Tim Haveron Jones

Tim Haveron Jones — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:59:51 +0000

Sheila,

As soon as I saw the Tripit service my first reaction was “wow – what a fantastic research tool for burglars!”

Anything that publishes travel details – including outbound and return flight information – is a recipe for disaster. Many people I know have at least one ‘open networker’ among their LinkedIn connections and how much do they know about that person and his or her motivations for using the system?

It’s rather like the problem with ‘out of office’ replies on email. It never ceases to amaze me how many people advertise the fact that they are going on holiday to anyone who sends them an email – regardless of whether that is a close colleague or someone who indiscriminately spams tens of thousands of mailboxes.

By: Ken Sampat

Ken Sampat — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:33:14 +0000

Hello,
You may find our service at http://www.poseeq.com meeting your privacy requirements.
We convert itineraries to calendar appointments.

Our philosophy at Poseeq has been to provide our users the same kind of privacy that we would ourselves want out of an online service provider.

Thank you.
Ken.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:11:09 +0000

I appreciate the continuing thoughtful comments on this topic, including helpful feedback from TripIt itself (via Will Aldrich.) My mind hasn’t changed; I’m pretty much in agreement with Carlos’ comment. It’s a worthy discussion.

By: Carlos Santos

Carlos Santos — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:57:23 +0000

Hi Sheila.
Just read one of your responses in LinkedIn’s Q&A and thought I’d take a look at your article. Glad I did. Totally agree with it. When it comes to web disclosure, no information is bad, the right amount of information is good and too much information may be very very bad. One extra thought:
Using TripIt with online disclosure of my travel plans or current location is advertising that I’m not home and it makes me uneasy when I’m away. But thinking it may attract unwanted “guests” when I’m away but someone from my family is home really makes my skin crawl. It’s even worse. So a definite *NO* to TripIt open access information. If a burglar wants to find out if I’m home he/she will have to do some homework, I’m not going to make it that easy.

Cheers,
Carlos.

By: Tamara Rice

Tamara Rice — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:19:25 +0000

I agree! It “trips” me out! Won’t use it.

By: Will Aldrich

Will Aldrich — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:48:12 +0000

Privacy and security are important concerns for everyone who uses online services, and we understand that travel plans can be very personal in nature, and might not be something you’d want to share with the world.

In our experience, there’s a good-sized group of people who just want the personal productivity benefits of TripIt (automatically organizing
confirmation emails into a nice itinerary that can be added to their calendar with a click, for instance) and who don’t care for any of the “social” stuff.

A lot of people like to see when their plans overlap with their friends or colleagues. For those people, TripIt’s Connections (or our LinkedIn application) are helpful tools. Your Connections on TripIt or LinkedIn can never see your travel details unless you specifically
share a trip plan with them. But connections can see the cities you are planning to visit on your trip (e.g., “New York”) and the dates you’ll be there. This allows us to offer “closeness alerts” for you and your Connections. Closeness alerts are especially helpful for sales folks, consultants, or any other outbound professionals whose business depends on meeting the right people at the right time.

Many people fall somewhere in between these two groups. This is why we give TripIt users the option to make any trip private. Private trips
can only be viewed by the traveler who creates the trip, and anyone with whom that traveler explicitly shares their trip. Connections you have on TripIt or LinkedIn don’t see anything about private trips.

Whether you’re more private and discreet about sharing your travel plans, or more open and gregarious, we try to make TripIt easy and useful.

If you have any input for other sharing or privacy controls you think we should take a look at, we’d love to hear your feedback. You can reach us at feedback@tripit.com.

Thanks!

Will Aldrich
VP of Product
TripIt

By: Lanora Mueller

Lanora Mueller — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:26:19 +0000

Thanks for bringing up the travel-detail-sharing question, Sheila.

I’ve been broadcasting my trip details to my connections on LinkedIn, like Donna, but recently started thinking about pulling back on how much detail I make available online.

@Nancy, it is possible to use Tripit to track your trips, including flight, hotel, and car reservations, without sharing access to your data. I like being able to forward my confirmation emails to Tripit so I can access them all from one place while I’m on the road.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:38:54 +0000

@Donna – not trying to spread gloom and doom, and I use vague travel plans language online too as a basic tactic. Considering using TripIt announcements on LinkedIn – you may want to look at Nancy Brown’s comment.

@Nancy – Can’t help you with a mileage app; sorry. Ye Olde Excel Spreadsheet? lol Do appreciate the LinkedIn heads-up.