EFF Calls on Companies to Encrypt Location-Based Data
The reason why Steven Seagal's 80's movies lack relevance for modern day audiences is because if a group of creepy, rogue mercenaries were to abduct us now, we'd be able to ping 10 nearby friends for backup. If you're like us, you're using one or more location-based services that rely on GPS data, phone signal strength or visibility in relation to nearby wireless networks. In other words, through Twitter, Loopt, Brightkite, Foursquare or Google Latitude, your location is sitting in a database. Nonetheless, according to a recent report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, you shouldn't have to forgo your locational privacy to find nearby friends or restaurants.
Locational privacy refers to the expectation that as regular citizens our whereabouts are not being monitored. We've all heard of the horror stories about illegal wiretapping and citizen surveillance, but what about the services we opt into? According to the report "On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever", it's fairly easy to use cryptographic techniques to ensure your anonymity. Rather than revealing a mobile device's owner to service providers, one way to ensure anonymity is for a mobile device to ping services using a cryptographic proof-of-identity. A University of Waterloo report entitled, "Louis, Lester and Pierre: Three Protocols for Location Privacy" provides a deeper look at identity masking techniques. 
This is an important subject for those companies looking to enter into the geo-locational space. Groups that encrypt their data are taking pains to reduce the threat of identity theft, illegal surveillance or for data to be subpoenaed by a court. These companies will be rewarded with customer loyalty when the unfortunate time comes for one or all three of the above scenarios.
Those critical of encryption might suggest that law-abiding citizens have nothing to hide, but that simply isn't true. What if you're in alcoholics anonymous? Or you've simply spent the night at a person's house? And honestly, do you really want your running club to see how often you eat at Arby's? Encryption allows us to ping our friends while maintaining an air of mystique, and at the end of the day, the companies that care about their customers, keep them.
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You said (and I agree) ---- "This is an important subject for those companies looking to enter into the geo-locational space. Groups that encrypt their data are taking pains to reduce the threat of identity theft, illegal surveillance or for data to be subpoenaed by a court. These companies will be rewarded with customer loyalty"
Similar examples include: kidnapping, detective work, stalking, paparrazi photographers, and adultery (which is tried by over a third of all married folks at least once, if I remember).
Privacy in general is going to be a bigger issue than it has been. The famous saying, "get over it", about the loss of privacy, may have been more true a few years ago. I suspect there is room for more privacy and that the ways to lose it are only getting stronger. As your excellent story points out clearly.
Steven Seagal movies lack relevance for modern day audiences? I disagree! The concept of a one man, limb-breaking army going up against hordes of over equipped and under-trained baddies is a concept that rings relevant for people of all ages!
I DO agree with your take on encryption software
for the everyday user. Many people do not realize how much they value the security of their data until it is lost or shared without their consent. The only solution, REAL solution for this, is not in 3rd party tools (unless one stands out and steps up as a de facto standard), but in OS based always-on encryption/decryption. That said, we are a long ways off from seeing that.