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Cell Tracking on the Rise
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is reporting that with the recent advances in cell phone tracking tech more and more companies are using it to keep track of their employee's movements. From the article: 'The gains, say the converted, are many, ranging from knowing whether workers have been "held up" in the pub rather than in a traffic jam, to being able to quickly locate staff and reroute them if necessary. Not everybody is happy about being monitored, however, and civil rights group Liberty says the growth of tracking raises data privacy concerns.'"
Divert the calls from your employer's phone to your own phone and turn off your employer's phone.
Turn the phone off before you go somewhere you don't want to be tracked.
Just because you have a mobile doesn't mean that it has to be turned on.
I'd gotten very used to always having a mobile on, being able to be contacted anywhere and at anytime. But I got rid of my mobile 3 years ago and haven't bothered getting a replacement, and it's been very refreshing to have to make appointments to meet people and so on.
More realistically, if you have your own mobile, you can leave it on and have it with you 24/7. But a mobile from your job should be set to turn on at 9 and off at 5, if those are your hours. I'm shocked by how many people I work with allow their bosses to make them work outside of office hours by ringing them up and getting them to do errands in their own spare time. It's bad enough with European companies slowly moving towards the American model of unpaid lunch breaks that aren't even 30 minutes long, without also copying the 24/7 worker ethic.
It's one thing for the police to locate you, it's another for employers to do so.
I'm not concerned with people getting busted for doing things on work time that they should not, but it's the precedent it sets.
-William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
At my current employment, I have refused receiving a company cell phone - I don't want my employer to reach me when I'm not at work! I CERTAINLY would not accept my employer tracking my movements! If the company I worked for implemented such a technology, I would quit - plain and simple.
If my employer has any reason to believe that I'm screwing him, he can damn well take it up with me, not play Big Brother.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
I read the article, but when reading between the lines I noticed that someone could track your cell phone without any sort technological upgrade on your phone. This means that the tracking technology is on the telco's side, and if they are now offering it as a reliable service to the public, it means that it has been around for a while... sounds like old technology to me. I guess all this means is that now businesses can do what the government has been doing for years. Face it guys, our privacy has been invade-able for a while, and there is little that we (the concerned public) can do about it.
oblig.: "In Russia, you can always find a Cell Phone. In Soviet Britain, Cell Phone finds YOU!"
That (more and more) companies think they own employees, rather than that they pay for their time. If someone never shows up to work on one time or has bad performance reviews, that's one thing; and if it gets bad, let them go. But where that employee is and what that employee does (when not working) is normally not the company's business. Not that any of this is a new idea on their part --- think company towns or migrant worker camps --- but technology now is making the "dream" a possibility, though hopefully not a reality.
From TFA:
There is increasing awareness about the importance of knowing where your staff are in case of incidents like the July London bombings.
So what good exactly is businesses tracking employees on an incident like that?
The range of things you can justify in fear of terrorist attacks never stops widening.
The following statement is true
The preceding statement is false
... for the US. Govt.? They could recoupe some of the development and deployment costs of their spy technology. Sell a complete Software/Hardware package for small operators and call it: Echelon (TM), Corporate edition.
.... Uhummmmm...... Now where did I leave that copy of 1984?????
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Turning off the cell phone is not enough not to be traced.
When you turn the cell phone off (or it is shutting down because of low battery), it nicely says the network is being shut down. So your evil tracer would know what you did.
It is a much better solution to unplug the battery. The cell phone will suddenly disappear from the network as if you were passing through an uncovered area.
And none could say where you are and why they don't know.
The only cons are about the loss of some cell phone data (like the last calls details and so on). But we can afford such a loss for the sake of privacy, can't we?
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
That's like saying, "if you're not saying anything bad, then you should send all your mail on postcards". Bad theory. The issue here isn't that people want to avoid getting in trouble for nicking off to the pub when they should be working, it's that people think--and rightly so!--that their employers have no business being able to find out where they go, on a whim. After all, something that just puts a foot in the door. You let them have this, then it isn't unreasonable to ask for something else. Then the same with something else and something else until the people with the money and the power--so, the money--can do whatever they want, because you let them. And they're going to try to do it in the name of "keeping you safe"--did you notice the brief nod to the Underground bombing in July? It's like every civil liberty that's been revoked in the States in the name of "not letting the terr'ists win". Bullshit. When you take away any freedom, you're doing exactly what those same terrorists want you to do.
But enough about how incredibly, incredibly stupid I think the Bush administration is. That has nothing to do with this. Or does it?
Matthew G P Coe
http://mgpcoe.blogspot.com/
Ha.
It's long been an absurd kabuki that the time you spend in commute is somehow 'your' time and, thus, unpaid. But, of course, who would sit in traffic in their true free time? Employers now show that they understand this dicotomy, this theft, perfectly well; they'll try to extert control over your unpaid time as if they somehow had bargained with you for it.
If employers are organized, so must employees be. Unions are the only solution.
Good, then let's install cameras throughout your house, bedrooms and bathrooms too. If you've got nothing to hide, you won't object. The cameras will make sure you aren't a pedophile with kidnapped children hidden in your house.
If you object, clearly you are guilty since you said you wouldn't object if you had nothing to hide.
Of course in keeping with the story, not only would the police have access to the cameras but your employer and coworkers as well.
The mobile provider knows which cell your phone had contacted last. If the last contact is a little old, your cell phone can be paged to find it. This paging is always done when there's a call for you, but it can be done at any time. Usally the cell phone networks page the mobile phones a few times a day on their own. This alone gives a rough estimate where your cell phone is located.
If more precision is necessary, there are applications that request from your mobile the signal strenght of the available cells and triangulate from this data a better location. Depending on how the network is laid out, this can give very good results.
So if you want to have a peaceful time in the pub, best just take the battery out of your phone. This way it drops out of the network without signing off and you can always blame no reception. As an alternative, select nice pubs in cellars with no coverage.
This applies to GSM and UMTS networks. I have no idea if it also works that way with those weird american networks.
"An employee has to consent to having their mobile tracked. A company can't request to track a phone without the user knowing,"
WTF? So if I DON'T consent, of course, on my annual employee's review, I won't be marked down with "TEAM PLAYER: -1" Riiiight....
"Some businesses want to keep an eye on their staff. Some feel they have an obligation to know where staff are in case of emergencies,... There is increasing awareness about the importance of knowing where your staff are in case of incidents like the July London bombings."
Huh? It's nice to know employers care about well being of emplyees, but seriously, what business of employer to track employees when something like "train bombing" occurs instead that of police? If that is the case, then health benifit and life insurance shouldn't be optional, but mandatory at work. Other wise, what does that really say? "We really care about your safty, but not really so much that we have to pay for your medicals."
"Knowing where your nearest employee is to a customer is also important. It allows a company to improve efficiency."
What? Any profession which requires (in my opinion) radio contact at all time may be useful in this case (such as EMT, police, fire fighters, cab drivers, doctors, field techicians, etc), but to improve efficiency on already shrunk-to-death workforce such as IT and sales (with high turnover)? Exactly how will that improve efficiency?
Jim the employer: Tom, I know you are by 3rd St. Get over to 5th and 7th, the nearest customer site ASAP.
Tom the employee: Jim, if you know where I am, you should know that I'm on a break and taking shit in a restroom.
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
In my experience, employer try to treat their employees as cattle but very often they're very shy to put it in writing. Also, very often the low- and mid-level managers are on the power trip and most abusive - the upper management usually can't be bothered with such details while on the golf course.
This often boils down to the situation, that if those requests and abuses are ignored, they have no serious consequenses. If my employer abuses the privilege of knowing where I can be reached outside business hours, it simply will be revoked. I left in such situations my business mobile phone in a drawer in my desk when I left in the evening.
Last time it took only two incidents until my boss understood, that I'm not his personal slave and that outside business hours it's up to my good will only if I do his bidding. Most catastrophes can wait until monday morning anyway or are caused by bad planning.
For this reason, having a mobile phone that gives my location while at work is no problem for me.
This IS a real problem. You acknowledge it but then say people just accept it! ...Why should they? Its only by the actions of organisations like Liberty that an appropriate solution (which considers the rights of all parties rather than just the employer) will hopefully be found.
Just because your willing to let your employer keep tabs on your location all day everyday doesn't mean everyone is or should be willing to adhere to your consent. For example: as it stands at the moment, if you use a company phone and keep it in your car and dont make a point of turning it off at the end of the workday. Then it is effectivly legal for your employer to track your location before and after work. Something most people would probably not be willing to concede to.
A woman was kidnapped from a Boston suburb 2 or 3 years ago, killed and her body driven to a remote site in NH and dumped. No evidence at the scene pointed to who did it, how or where they'e taken her. But her cellphone was still on. The time of the crime and roughly the route taken in its perpetration were established. The body, then the car and finally the cultprit were all found. You win some, you lose something. take your choice.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
Make a list of civil liberties your government has affirmed and a similar list for those it has denied (in the US that includes warrants for searches, right to trial/charges when accussed of terrorism, etc).
Track this list over time. For the US at least, it's clear that rights have been falling away far quicker than they are being affirmed.
This means that in the future, be it fifty years or three hundred, the government will need to be overthrown. Probably violently.
If the government has a camera in every nook, a trace on every phone, and a computer scanning every email and phonecall, the rebellion will be delayed. It won't be stopped, since it's inevitable, but it will be bloodier than it needs to be.
I used to work for a company that used those little HID access cards. They had a system that could detect those cards in each room, so they knew where employees were at all times. Well, one week I had the flu, and since they denied my request for sick time, I was in the office, making frequent runs to the restroom (get it?). Later that week, my manager actually wrote me up because he had proof I was spending over an hour a day in the rest room, and accused me of being a goof off.
So, I resigned and immediately sued them. It turns out that a jury is very sympathetic when it comes to a company forcing a sick employee to come to work, even with a medical diagnosis of the flu and doctor orders to stay home. They are especially generous when it comes to a company actually writing someone up for trying to deal with the symptoms.
Of course, since they were a startup (what other kind of company would do something like that?), they didn't have enough cash for the settlement. They couldn't appeal because the local DA promised criminal charges if they did. Since they didn't have case, I settled for a majority stake in the company. I then sold it all to one of their competitors who took all of their IP and fired all of the executives, including the asshole who did that to me.
Think like an East German.
East German secret police, the Stasi used scandium-46 with hidden radiation detectors to identify and track dissidents.
West German deutschmark banknotes, documents, clothing and meeting rooms where heavily tagged.
New Scientist, January 3, 2001
http://www.leftwatch.com/archives/years/2001/00000 4.html
They also used to get your odour by rubbing it onto a piece of fabric. They would then have a jar with your fabric in it.
Trained dogs would then sniff you out.
Stasiland by Anna Funder
http://www.arlindo-correia.com/081203.html
In Capitalist west phone irradiates you.
In Communist East Germany you irradiate phone.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Don't worry if your employer can track your whereabouts. Soon Google will release GoogleTracker, which will be a beta service you can route your calls through.
Of course, by using GoogleTracker you agree to allow non-humans to listen to your calls, for the purpose of identifying relevant ads.
Privacy advocates are satisfied that Google will not track your movement. They are satisfied that Google already knows everything about you. Google spokesmen have reinforced this, saying, "Monitoring your calls would be like triple-wiping. There's only a slim chance we'll get more dirt from you."
It would be nice to have our cake and eat it too. If I was driving in bad weather and had an accident (such that I could not call for help), I'd love for my loved ones and emergency personnel to be able to find me. Similarly, If a business lives or dies by ultra-efficiency, it is always good to be able to re-route on-the-ground employees to handle business issues as quickly as possible - while not wasting the employee's time by having them call in/be called constantly to know where they are.
However, I strongly dislike the idea that one can be tracked without one's permission. It isn't a government's job to know where I am at all times. I also don't believe that governments need to track non-criminal activities just in case a person does something wrong.
Law enforcement has always walked a fine line between police state activities and protecting the greater good. What I don't know is how our politicians and law enforcement can necessarily handle telling the difference between the two...
A Passionate Independent Musician
All cell calls to 911 are located in this manner.
...in the same office? The one who uses the company phone location service to pursue and harass women in the office. What about the abusive husband who works for the same company as his wife and locates the women's shelter because of the company cell phone? As can be demonstrated by many abuses, companies aren't very good at keeping this kind of data protected from people that shouldn't have it. It's going to end up causing a certain amount of grief and accompanying lawsuits.
I'm sure that many people will accept this kind of intrusion into their privacy, simply because it will be a condition of employment. That giant stick that has been bashing holes in our personal privacy for some time now.
This technology will undoubtedly provide some useful services, but it will also be abused. My guess is that it will take quite a lot of abuse before proper rules and restrictions are put in place so that people can control when they are being monitored.
-All that is gold does not glitter - Tolkien
www.ra
This wouldn't be such a bad thing if I could track the cell phones of the people who are tracking me. I really don't see what's so bad about letting my boss track me as long as I'm able to follow him around. It's the imbalance of power that's the main problem with typical surveillance. Want to track my movements with a camera? Go ahead.... but only if I get to know who's watching me and I have the ability to watch them back. An open and transparent society can make the world both safe and free. As it is now the powerful, well-connected and criminal can invade your privacy any time they want... privacy laws only prevent us from spying on them.
And yet this is the world many of you fantasize about living in. Every week they fight for and babble on and on about the inalienable rights of aliens. How could anyone not believe they would use the ship's monitoring cameras to see each other's poker hands and use the Holodeck for Orion slave-girl porn reenactments?
In that same FICTIONAL UNIVERSE, employers and government don't abuse the massive database. The communicators for tracking are onlt worn by military personel, and only (necessarily) on duty. Apparently, the location function only works when abord the Enterprise. Apparently, having a genetic trait that will/could lead to a disease requiring expensive treatment doesn't get you banned from free medical care.
Unfortunatly, those conditions are not present today. The ability of a society to pinpoint any citizen's location and to know their exact medical condition carry great responsabilities. Our 'leaders' today are far too irresponsable to be trusted with any it.
I see it as the other way around.
Right now, you pay for a cell phone if you want one. It's yours, it's private.
Nothing in this article proposes changing that. Nobody would be able to get tracking data off of your personal mobile phone.
What's basically happening is that companies are going to have ways of tracking THEIR mobile phones, which they give to employees. Nobody is saying that you have to carry this phone with you on the weekends, or use it for personal calls, or anything else.
However, there seems to be as assumption being made here that people will carry their employers' free phones with them everywhere, after work hours, and use them in lieu of a personally-owned phone. To me, that's basically like saying "we'll give you $25 a month in exchange for your privacy!" The assumption is that people will take their employers up on this offer, and stop paying for their own phones.
I think it's a stupid bargain -- I value my privacy more than $29 a month or whatever I pay for my personal cell service. But some people might not, and they ought to be able to make a pact with the devil, metaphorically speaking, if they so choose.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."