In (every carrier's) defense! -- Re: location information & Cell Service

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ethan Ackerman <eackerma () u washington edu>
Date: April 16, 2009 10:25:17 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: In (every carrier's) defense! -- Re: [IP] location  
information &  Cell Service
Reply-To: eackerma () u washington edu

Greetings Dave,

IPers following this might be interested in/disappointed to know that
a particular, almost quirky, wording of the federal communications
privacy law likely shields the carriers providing these type of
account-based tracking services - regardless of any notifications to
individual users. Opinions may differ on whether it's bad or horrible,
but it's written that way in the statute.

Location information from cellular services is actually more protected
under federal law than many other types of 'private' information.
It's disclosure requires an opt-in of the 'customer.'
The problem is, the 'customer' isn't always the same as the 'user.'

The relevant portion of the Communications Act (
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/222.html#f )  says disclosure of
"call location information concerning the _user_" isn't permitted
"without the express prior authorization of the _customer_"    It's
this distinction the carriers are likely relying on.




-Ethan



On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 7:38 PM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: April 15, 2009 5:07:29 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: In Verizon's defense! -- Re: [IP] VERIZON offers this too:
>  Warning: AT&T's New "Spouse Stalking" Cell Service
>
>
> Dave,
>
> I have to come to Verizon's defense on this.  Assuming that we're
> talking about the same thing, the Verizon tracking service that Peter
> is referring to is very different from the new AT&T service that can
> be so easily abused for stalking.
>
> In particular, as discussed at:
>
> http://support.vzw.com/faqs/Chaperone/faq_chaperone.html#item25
>
> Verizon's service uses special phones, and they give an obvious
> visible indication every time that a location track is in progress.
>
> This is very different from AT&T's FamilyMap, which tracks silently
> for a month after a single notification attempt, and apparently does
> so with virtually any non-pre-pay cell phone.
>
> There is nothing inherently evil about location-based mobile
> applications -- the ones I have on my G1 are great and I have total
> control over how and when they're used.  But implementation details
> matter tremendously when designing such systems.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () vortex com
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, NNSquad
>  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
>  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> Twitter: LW1
>
> - - -
>
> On 04/15 16:34, David Farber wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: "Peter Jensen" <peter () peterjensen com>
> > Date: April 15, 2009 2:44:24 PM EDT
> > To: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
> > Subject: Re: [IP] VERIZON offers this too:  Warning: AT&T's New  
> > "Spouse
> > Stalking" Cell Service
> >
> > I was purchasing a new phone at a Verizon store two days ago, and
> > overheard the salesman offering this tracking (i.e. stalking)  
> > service to
> > a customer.  A "Parent" and "Child" phone are set up and initialized
> > that way.
> >
> > > Called "FamilyMap" ( http://www.att.com/familymap ), the service
> > > allows the account owner to track the location of other cell  
> > > phones in
> > > the account over the Internet or on their own cell phones.  While  
> > > this
> > > concept isn't particularly new, the manner of implementation that  
> > > AT&T
> > > has chosen for this service is quite alarming.
> > >
> > > Rather than following the conventional procedure of requiring
> > > confirmation from a cell phone that its user wishes to permit
> > > tracking, FamilyMap allows for the activation of tracking based  
> > > solely
> > > at the discretion of the account owner.
> >
> > From what I overheard, the Verizon phones do not require any further
> > permission to be used in this manner.  That is specifically what the
> > salesman was offering the customer.
> >
> > Peter Jensen
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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