Finns To Use Cell Phones To Monitor Traffic Jams

Okko writes "The Finnish Road Administration announced it is going to use cellphone location data to find out about traffic jams. They say they are using the location data available from the GSM base stations to determine the locations and speeds of vehicles carrying mobile phones. The information will be used to inform people about traffic jams and peaks in traffic trough public FM radio stations. Until now, the information about traffic has been gathered using car sensors embedded in the roads. The spokesperson of FRA, interviewed in the evening news of MTV3 Finland, seemed very pleased they can monitor cell phones even when no calls are made, it is enough the phone has power on. They said they are about to use the information anonymously and thought people approve it as long as it is done in an anonymous and "everyone-wins" way. It was told they do not currently tell the police about the data they discover as the current law forbids this. So, it is not, at least yet, possible to fine people carrying mobile phones in their cars too fast on public roads (exceeding the speed limit of the road). Unfortunately, probably because of vacations, FRA has not updated their website accordingly yet. There does exist an annoucement about testing the technology from the summer. "

Comments

first scotts, now finns

[kousik]

Another slashdot story was flashed a while back (13/06/02), but that was pertaining to Scottish company.

Might improve safety

[Moderation abuser]

After all, nobody is going to believe that speeding information won't be passed to the police, despite any laws currently in place, therefore, they may well switch off their bloody phones rather than weave randomly across lanes of traffic when making or answering a call the way they do at the moment.

Privacy

[Kajakske]

This is all very interesting, but as stated before, there is a privacy risk involved with this. Not only can you actually track where a user goes, you can also track who he is with.

Another point is, who knows how many cell phones are in 1 car ? If you have several cars with 4 people in it, all having there cell phone turned on, then it might look like a traffic jam, or at least very condensed traffic, but it might not be the case.
Or the opposite. If they take an average of 2 phones per car, and it's work time and there are like only people with 1 person in the car, it might look like fluid traffic where there is a jam.

Similar story

[Koyaanisqatsi]

This is not a dupe (hey, not yet ;) but a similar story was reported a while back. Here is the magic link.

The linked BBC article on the story is in English too.

Re:So you've decided to live off the grid

[Angry White Guy]

Cash is easily traceable. That little metal strip in US Currency is not an anti-counterfit device, it's a homing beacon. Each bill has its own signature, picked up any time you walk through a metal detector.

"Well how can they know which bill I have?" you ask? That's not a newspaper salesman in the airport, that's a g-man waiting to give you your change. Once you're marked, the bill sends an electromagnetic signal which switches on all the other money in your wallet so they can use that to track you as well. Or that guy that bumped into you in the alley, He was a carrier, sent to activate your money. They just have to get close to you and they can tag you for surveillance.

NEVER buy anything at the airport! And if you're going anyplace public where they can get near you, keep your money wrapped up in tinfoil, and separate each bill with newsprint. This will block the g-men's activation signal, plus give the added benefit of always having crisp, clean cash.

Old news actually

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out the date: 18.6.2002.

The press release talks about monitoring traffic jams on highways. Thus several phones in single car won't make a difference, since dozens of cars will pass checkpoints every minute.

Privacy isn't an issue here. Finland has very strict privacy laws and this system is designed with privacy in mind: System assing different (changing) codes to the each cell phone and it only tracks when code X pass through the checkpoints.

It is also illegal for operators to give information about calls to the police, unless owner is suspected of very severe crime.

Re:So they say they,ll use the info anonymously..

[arivanov]

Nothing actually holds them to their word on this.

Do you think that Finland is a village in Alabama or something? Finland is a civilised country. And as such it has data protection regulations and telecoms laws you have hardly dreamed of. In order to get to that data police need

• 1. A court warrant on a specific person
• 
  2. Having obtained the court warrant they can start recording only the specific subset they have been granted access to.
  3. They have no access to any prior data except the last 60 days of billing (and nothing but billing).
  4. Any non-billing data that can personally identify an individual may not be retained by the telecom operator and is immediately destroyed after operational use.

Germany and other EU countries have similar laws. There are exemptions of course. Like the UK.

But overall, the police cannot get to any data of practical interest for the prosecution of minor misdemanors.