Location-based spy technologies
p2pnet news view | Freedom:- Systems which track people’s movements make it easier to pay bridge tolls or bus fares, and get in and out of secure areas with a card instead of a key.
But they can also be a serious threat to our ability to move around in public spaces without them systematically spying on where we go, and when, says the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
With that in mind, the foundation has just released a report showing how location information is collected by various popular electronic devices and services, “and argues for concrete technological solutions that would allow you to enjoy these systems’ benefits without sacrificing your privacy in your everyday life”.
Location-based technologies such as electronic road-toll tags and cell-phone apps that alert you when your friends are nearby often create and store records of your movements, says EFF technologist Peter Eckersley, one of the co-writers of the white paper.
“This could make it possible for others to know when you visited a health clinic, what church or bar you spend time in, or who you go to lunch with,” he says.
The technical solution to preserving privacy in digital services, “lies in modern cryptography and careful design,” says Stanford University mathematician and co-writerAndrew J. Blumberg .
“It may seem counterintuitive, but using cryptography, these systems can function without collecting and storing personal data at all,” he says.
“The best way for systems to protect user data is not to collect it [sic] in the first place; then the information is not available for anyone to buy, steal, or obtain by subpoena — it would stay truly private.”
Click here for On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever.
EFF – Who Knows Where You Are, And Why?, August 5, 2009
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August 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
It’s an interesting one Jon. Part of the Annual Mobile Broadband Privacy Review I am currently working on for Privacy International is focusing on the issue of location based tracking. So far the majority of Terms and Conditions I have reviewed from various Mobile Providers have clauses with regards to location tracking for commercial purposes. It is one of our greatest privacy concerns with regards to this industry sector. And sadly with companies like Google “glamming it up” (Lattitude) it is a tough one to educate the public with regards to the dangers. For the past 18 months I have been fighting to stop companies from tracking where we go in the virtual world and of course that is a very serious situation but it pales in comparison to the dangers to privacy which present from location tracking.
When you marry these commercial models with existing government tracking (CCTV Networks, Automatic Number Plate Recognition Systems and ID card schemes) the time is rapidly approaching where privacy will simply cease to exist and once it is gone the fight to get it back is, as I am sure you are aware, verging on impossible to win.