more on Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone tracking data

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tom Goltz <tgoltz () QuietSoftware com>
Date: November 30, 2005 3:55:50 PM EST
To: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Cc: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] [EPIC_IDOF] Getting consumers' consent to sell  
cellphone tracking data

At 02:25 PM 11/30/2005, you wrote:
> I want to see a requirement put into place that wireless companies
> must get a customer's written consent before any of  their  
> cellphone position
> data is turned over to a third-party for any uses not related to  
> making
> cellphone calls.

It's likely that these traffic monitoring systems can and are being  
implemented without any direct input from the cellular carriers.  You  
can actually gather quite a bit of information about traffic volume  
and speed by simply setting up a receiver beside the highway and  
measuring the number of distinct signals that you hear, and the  
length of time that each uniquely identifiable signal is in range of  
a given receiver.  This system has definite privacy implications, but  
these are going to need to be addressed by the operators of the  
receivers (the local government) rather than with the cellular carriers.

The only way the cellular carriers could prevent this kind of passive  
use of cellular transmissions would be to fully encrypt ALL  
communications between the phone and the tower.  Given the computing  
requirements for strong encryption and the need to replace ALL the  
customer-owned cellular handsets, this is unlikely to happen in the  
foreseeable future.

I'd personally settle for the carriers being willing to disclose when  
and if they can obtain tracking information from E911-capable  
handsets.  I have yet to find an E911 location-capable handset that  
offers the owner ANY control over how and when the phone transmits  
location information.





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