Wireless phone tracking plans raise privacy hackles
By John Borland, CNET News.comFriday November 10 04:00 PM EST
Make a call from a cell phone, and suddenly the phone company will know you're at your neighborhood bar.
Federal rules intended to allow wireless 911 distress calls to be pinpointed are prompting criticisms from privacy advocates and consumers worried about giving the big telecommunications companies the ability to track people's movements.
Wireless phone companies told regulators this week how they will meet the controversial federal requirements to pinpoint subscribers' locations, rekindling critics' privacy concerns.
"There are two sides to this," says Eddie Hold, a wireless analyst with research firm Current Analysis. "Every wireless user wants to call 911 and get a local service. But it's certainly going to be a privacy issue when you have the cell phone able to track you."
Some of the giant telephone companies will be putting Global Positioning System (GPS) chip technology inside their phones. Others will use a method that uses information such as the strength of a cell phone's signal. And some companies simply don't know yet how they will meet federal rules intended to allow wireless 911 distress calls to be pinpointed.
The still-young technology is shaping up as a key part of the infrastructure for wireless data companies, which want to use this location information to offer subscribers new services and advertisements.
But the move toward what some critics call Big Brother-like capabilities isn't the wireless network operators' doing. The regulation they're complying with was passed as policymakers responded to concerns that 911 calls made over cell phones were slower and less effective than ordinary calls, as they didn't automatically reach a nearby emergency service.
Advocates are looking for some specific safeguards, such as allowing the location information to be transmitted to the cell phone company only during 911 calls, or when the subscriber explicitly allows it by pushing a button on the phone.
While these policy issues get worked out, the communications companies are pondering what kind of technology they will need to meet federal requirements. The rules will require companies to be able to locate 911 calls to within about 100 feet.
Sprint PCS is planning to put GPS chips inside its handsets, which will require it to persuade as many consumers as possible to buy new phones. Cingular Wireless, the company being created out of BellSouth and SBC Communications, will use a similar technology for part of its footprint, but will use a "network based" approach for the rest.
Verizon Wireless says it, too, will use one of several network approaches, which involve judging a person's location from such data as signal strength and simple triangulation. AT&T says it needs more time to decide.
Fearful of new costs, and of developing features that wouldn't immediately turn into revenue, the telecommunications companies were initially skeptical of the government's mandate, analysts say. They dragged their heels, noting that the technology was expensive and difficult to implement.
But then along came the wireless Web, with its unrealized but potentially valuable set of new services. Suddenly the ability to locate subscribers looked better, as that information could be useful to advertisers or local businesses, and telecommunications companies started thinking better of the mandate.
The telephone and wireless data companies now cite myriad alleged benefits from the services aside from the simple 911 positioning. Consumers could dial up their banks, for example, which could then relay the position of ATMs closest to callers' locations.
Individual companies are working on advertising applications as well, which could relay coupons to consumers as they pass the region of a store, for instance.
But privacy advocates warn that consumers need to have some way of controlling this information, so they aren't entirely at the mercy of advertisers, or of law enforcement forces that want the location information for their own reasons.
The Privacy Foundation and others will be working to set some guidelines for how information can be used or collected along with federal regulators, and they hope to work with a new industry group dubbed the Location Inter-operability Forum.
"This is a big concern," said Richard Smith, chief technology officer at the Privacy
Webraska and Blue Impact Join Forces to Demonstrate Worldwide Navigation & Mapping Services on GPS & GSM Equipped PDA Devices
Munich, Germany
Webraska, the worldwide provider of personal navigation, traffic information services and maps for mobile Internet devices and Blue Impact, the designer of mobile hardware navigation solution, are cooperating to develop personal navigation services on wireless & GPS enabled PDAs.
A demonstration of this exciting capability of combining real-time routing, enhanced spatial searching, maps, GPS precise localisation with the wealth of information from the Internet on a colour PDA will be shown at the major IT, Telecom and Media show - SYSTEMS 2000 in Munich, from 6-10 November 2000 on Blue Impact's stand (Hall A6, stand 507).
The new services are estimated to be available for telecom operators, telematic portals and service and content providers next year.
The first generation of personal navigation services on PDA devices will immediately benefit from the combination of Webraska's international coverage of traffic and mapping data and from Blue Impact's unique module providing accurate GPS positioning and GSM wireless data connection simultaneously.
The objective is to offer IbDN(TM) (Internet-based Distributed Navigation) on PDAs - offering traditional car navigation system functionality enhanced with traffic information, personalisation, and worldwide always up-to-date coverage.
Blue Impact has been actively developing TellMAN, the world first combine GPS & GSM Springboard(TM) module for the Visor(TM) from Handspring(TM)
``It's very exciting to see PDAs becoming wireless devices with features similar to the car navigation systems like precise positioning, large colour screens and soon vocal interfaces. Working with Blue Impact, the first company to provide a combined GPS & GSM module for Palm OS based PDA devices enables Webraska to reach a new milestone in its objective to offer IbDN(TM) services on most wireless devices``, commented Eric Wurmser, Business Development Manager at Webraska.
``For the first time in the PDA or fixed navigation system's history, our hardware and Webraska's worldwide wireless navigation technology will enable travelers to access a level of comfort in M- and E-business via the GSM channel. Even common limitations such as memory capacity will quickly become a problem of the past and quality of GIS data and punctual local content will play a major role in a near future``, says Brice De Ron, CEO of Blue Impact AG.
About Webraska
Webraska provides worldwide real-time location-based personal navigation, maps and traffic information services and technology for mobile Internet devices. In addition to its patented Internet-based Distributed Navigation(TM), Webraska provides wireless carriers with a complete suite of turnkey personal navigation applications carefully crafted to make the best out of each access mode (WAP, Internet, SMS, IVR, PDA, Call Centre, car equipment). Webraska also offers an Application Programming Interface that allows carriers and their partners to add door-to-door directions, mapping, geocoding and enhanced spatial searching based on shortest journey-time to all their databases and applications (location-based services, m-commerce, games, city guides, fleet management, mobile Extranet, etc.). The company is headquartered in Poissy, France and has offices in London, Brussels, Madrid, Rotterdam, Milan, Tokyo and Melbourne. For more information visit www.webraska.com
About Blue Impact
Blue Impact AG built the first real mobile smart GSM/GPS navigation system based upon a Visor(TM) Palm OS PIM, key features such as a combination for GIS information with the address of the Visor(TM) address book, 12 channel GPS reception, 10 hour navigation capability in the mobile environment.
WAP, iMODE , WEB browser, SMS, E-Mail communication are fully integrated in the M2GO(TM) data suite delivered with the TellMEN(TM). Blue Impact AG, is actively involved in developing new systems in mobile satellite reception (L band), human resource management systems, medicine patience monitoring and senior technology for the automotive industry as well as logistic and package tracking solutions.
Based in Berlin/Germany, Blue Impact AG will open offices in Texas/USA and Hong Kong in 2001.
For more information visit www.blue-impact.com |
