Cell Phones to Monitor Traffic Flow

PCOL writes "The Baltimore Sun reports that Delcan technology will soon begin fullscale deployment of a system in Maryland that will mine cellphone data to determine traffic conditions such as jams and slowdowns. As long as a user's phone is turned on, the cellphone network notes the time of handoffs from cell to cell to calculate the location and speed of vehicles. Researchers say the program will reduce congestion by quickly delivering alerts on road conditions to drivers. The company says they will not track the movement of individual drivers. However, a staff attorney for the EFF says that tracking might violate federal law and 'increases the chances that information will be used for more invasive purposes in the future.'"

Comments

First DUPE!!!!

[Viceice]

*Ahem*

DUPE!

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/ 01/159241&tid=193

Re:First DUPE!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot should use cell phones to start monitoring dupes! :-)

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/ 01/159241&tid=193

Re:First DUPE!!!!

[Punkrokkr]

Being an unfortunate resident of Maryland I do know that they tried to set up speed cameras; however, from my understanding that idea failed. In fact, Lockheed Martin was the company in charge of developing the cameras and when the controversy started, they let another company take over that. LM didn't want the heat apparently. They had a couple for "testing" purposes on the beltway around DC, it caught me once, but they were only sending out warnings since it wasn't "legal" yet to ticket speeders.

Re:First DUPE!!!!

[Jupix]

Well, after clicking through some links it seems this is the FIFTH /. story about the same thing.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/ 01/159241&tid=193
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/16/076217 &tid=215&tid=126
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/124324 7&mode=thread&tid=126
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/13/042822 9&mode=thread&tid=100

Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[ezzzD55J]

You don't have to do any tracking of handsets to estimate how busy the roads are - just count the number of handoffs coming in going out (per cell per handset). The quicker they are, the faster the cars are moving.

Re:Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[Tatarize]

Just wait til they track the individual cell phones, and use the calculations to catch speeders. Location and speed they travel. Then just get a bunch and find out who the cellphones belong to and ticket them.

Re:Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[jacksonj04]

Not accurate enough. It's possible to triangulate a phone's position on demand down to a few metres using 3 or more towers and best-signal feedbacks, but if all it's logging is cell hand-offs then it could be a phone from any point in the cell switching to any other point in the other cell.

Re:Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[Macka]

I'm writing this from the City of Sheffield in the UK, about 200 miles away from where I live. I just drove up this morning. On 3 occasions I called the Orange traffic info line to check what was happening on the motorways (freeways) ahead of me. Apart from getting info on specific motorways (punching the number in on the car keypad) one option is to get traffic information near to where I am. It takes only a couple of seconds, then they announce the A road or motorway I'm traveling on, the direction I'm traveling in, and then proceed to give me a full report on what happening ahead of me and in the surrounding area. It's bloody useful.

It's also possible to be too paranoid about things to you own detriment !!

Re:Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[zippthorne]

I wish they would catch EVERY speeder. Then there'd be enough clamor that we could get the damn speed limits increased to reasonable levels. and maybe we'll stop using the rediculous rhetorical device of "if it saves one life its worth it" to pass bad laws.

The only thing that keeps bad laws on the books is arbitrary enforcement of bad laws.

Re:Doesn't have to be a privacy problem.

[krbvroc1]

and maybe we'll stop using the rediculous rhetorical device of "if it saves one life its worth it" to pass bad laws.

This country suffered over 98,000 deaths from medical errors in 1999 alone. We wont force improvements in medical records, pharmacy errors, or poor IT systems in our medical system, but we will slow down the economy by 10 mph for a few lives.

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=168404&cid=140 40211

invasive

[Anne Thwacks]

We have a similar system in the UK.

Introduced to provide traffic speed info (provided you subscribe - about $50 per month).

Now beiing used to find stolen cars, terrorists (recently anyone who disagrees with a government minister) and people who owe parking tickets - who have their car clamped until they pay.

George Orwell was only 20 years too early - he got most of the rest right.

Re:invasive

[Hosiah]

George Orwell was only 20 years too early - he got most of the rest right.

I've thought this so long, and have seen so many others say the same, that I'm supporting Orwell's canonization as an official prophet. God knows, he had a better batting average than most prophets.

Uh oh

[wootest]

Can you hear me now? Are we there yet? Can you hear me now? Are we there yet? etc.

I'm not looking forward to this ;)

Switch off

[slashmojo]

Don't want to be tracked? Just switch your phone off while you are driving.. safer for everyone on the road anyway..

Re:Switch off

[Anonymous Coward]

Turning off the phone isn't enough. You have to put the phone in the microwave for sixty seconds, pull out the battery, wrap the phone in aluminum foil, and throw it out the window into the bed of a passing pickup truck.

Obligatory

[codeshack]

Of course, it can't track you if your number starts with $sys$...

What do you mean "in the future"?

[HangingChad]

However, a staff attorney for the EFF says that tracking might violate federal law and 'increases the chances that information will be used for more invasive purposes in the future.

With National Security letters blowing like leaves in the wind, that will be about 15 minutes after it's activated.

The issue isn't..

[Zunni]

The issue with this isn't the current implementation. Everything that's created to better mankind or to deliver a service starts off being utopian and pristine. It just takes time for people to start finding and using the more sinister applications of this or any other kind of service.

Examples: Email - Started off with being a convenient, quick and easy way to exchange information.. Now - Cialis and Viagra ads as far as the eye can see

Web surfing - Intended as a way to access massive amounts of information quickly and easily, basically sharing the worlds knowledgebase.. Now - Pop-up, Pop-over, Pop-under, and Glom-on ads everywhere.

So in conclusion this may provide a useful service for the first year or so, then once the government realizes they need to find a specific person, or the cell phone companies need to find out how many of their subscribers travel which roadways (to help drive advertising to non-subscribers) then it will like so many other cool ideas, just turn into a pain in the ass.

Re:Mod this man up. Re:First DUPE!!!!

[jafiwam]

Unless I am confusing my web sites, this is the _third_ time this has been on /.

So if two is a dupe...

A third is a... tripe?