IP: Privacy activists want wireless devices regulated

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 09:42:02 -0500
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
>
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40623,00.html
>
>    FTC Tackles Wireless Regulation
>    by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
>    2:00 a.m. Dec. 13, 2000 PST
>
>    WASHINGTON -- If you're an inside-the-Beltway privacy nut, your worst
>    fear goes something like this: Your cell phone will begin to chirp
>    with a Big Mac ad whenever you wander too close to a set of McDonald's
>    golden arches.
>
>    Walk by Starbucks, and your pager will warble with news of a sale --
>    today only! -- on a tall latte for just $1.95. When you get a divorce,
>    your spouse's lawyer will subpoena your Palm VII e-mail records and
>    prove that you were working on something more than an urgent project
>    during all those late nights.
>
>    Warning darkly of the twin perils of surveillance and spam, advocates
>    gathered at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on Tuesday to
>    recommend more federal regulations directed at the growing wireless
>    content industry.
>
>    Evan Hendricks, publisher of Privacy Times, said wireless devices
>    "must" have their defaults set so they do not broadcast their
>    locations. David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy
>    Information Center, complained that self regulation has not "worked
>    all that well" and said the feds must step in.
>
>    The FTC event, which began Monday afternoon, was originally intended
>    to let commission staff know what was happening in the wireless
>    industry. But it drew so much attention it expanded into a series of
>    panel discussions, complete with a nanoscopic trade show made up of
>    about seven mostly abandoned tables set up in the FTC's cafeteria.
>
>    For their part, businesses pointed to the work they've already done
>    toward protecting privacy and letting consumers choose to enable
>    location-broadcasting information.
>
>    [...]
>
>
>
>
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