[IP] Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone tracking data
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kris Gabor <kgabor@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 30, 2005 4:18:13 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx, rms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] [EPIC_IDOF] Getting consumers' consent to sell
cellphone tracking data
Interesting debate. I don't see the big deal here, though. A lot of
valuable information can be gleaned from using cell phones as anonymous
mobile transponders. The key is that the wireless carriers not pass
on any
personally identifiable information to the company doing the
aggregation and
analysis, and that the scope of the information is geographically
limited.
Requiring consumers to opt in would render this concept DOA. I would be
interested in seeing the details of what raw data they are intending
to turn
over.
The way the wireless carrier should do this to keep me happy as a
consumer
who values his privacy is to send the aggregator a feed of lat/long with
some ephemeral ID that is constant for my phone (maybe changes
daily), but
cannot be resolved back to the ESN or phone number. Moreover, they
should
only do this if the location is within some geographic mask that
represents
highway systems of interest. I wouldn't want them to send a record
of me
pulling into my driveway, for instance. This way, we get the utility
without giving up privacy. Seems like a win-win to me.
-- Kris
On 11/30/05 14:25, "David Farber" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 29, 2005 12:12:46 PM EST
To: EPIC_IDOF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [EPIC_IDOF] Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone
tracking data
Hi,
The Baltimore Sun and New York Times recently ran articles about the
State
of Maryland getting ready to roll out a traffic flow monitoring
system which
works by tracking the position of cellphones which are being
carried in
cars. The Baltimore Sun article is still online at this URL:
Cell phone data tracing traffic in Md.
System 'watches' vehicles, raises fears about privacy
http://tinyurl.com/7we6q
Virginia and Missouri are also about ready to test similar systems.
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.
I recent contacted the Maryland Highway Department and requested a
copy of
the contract for the system. The contract is now online as a Word
document
file on my Web site:
http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/mdotcontract.doc
I haven't had time to review the contract yet, but I did see that the
funds
for this Maryland project are coming from the Federal Highway
Administration
(http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/). Perhaps the FHWA are the folks who
should be
requiring consumers to provide consent to have their cellphone
position data
sold to other companies.
Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
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