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Cell Phone Tracking In the UK
jvlb writes "The BBC reports on cell phone tracking systems now available in Britain. The correspondent addresses the privacy and security issues that ensue." From the article: "With more and more children owning mobile phones, special attention needs to be given to who can track them. If you are not a genuine parent or guardian, the code requires location services to check that both the tracker and the person being tracked can prove they are consenting adults. Mr Macleod says: 'The person that is to be located has to demonstrate to the service provider they are at least 16 years old.'"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
TFA mentions several reasons as to why one would want to use this service, viz. tracking your employees or your children. Oh, whatever did we do before this technology came to save us? It seems to me that while some technology I would deem harmful (such as most surveillance tech) does have its uses - if criminals communicate via email, then the police should be able to read their email (with a warrant). However, this is one area where this does not apply. Giving your child a cell phone does not make them harder to keep track of, thus warranting use of this technology. On the contrary; just call the kid.
I think potential for abuse, in this case, outweighs whatever good may come from this. Please, kill this market by not using their service. Please.
L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.
Turning it off is not necessarily sufficient and removing the battery is inconvenient. So, forward your work cell phone to a private phone and permanently leave the work phone in its charger, inside a locked drawer of your desk.
Oh well, what the hell...
This is such old news, it was initially worked over by The Guardian at the start of the month, and it even got picked up by Slashdot. But it was old news even then, you've been able to do this sort of thing for years. I've talked about it a lot in my blog...
Al.The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
Now consider this: in Texas, there is a plan afoot -- already approved by the legislature -- to turn over 6000 miles of preexisting roads to a foreign Spanish company so that the company can charge tolls on those roads. Drivers will be required to have an RFID tag in their car with will allow their movements to be tracked and cataloged that company (and the state will have access to that information, see http://www.austintollparty.com/). This is not just confined to Texas, there are similar plans in many other states.
The question has to be asked: why is there is this massive push for the governement to know where we are all of the time and have the ability to listen to us. This may just be the insipiant footprint of a police state.
Why not just phone them and ask if they're OK? If they're not OK, all you know is where their phone is ... Lying where they dropped it when they were abducted (oh good, he's at the park), In the car at the accident scene (oh, good, she's just leaving the mall now), In their pocket while they get drunk (oh good, he's at jimmy's).
Its funny how my perception of the world changes depending on the current situation. I firmly believe in a person's right to privacy. However, I've often thought that it would be very useful to be able to track people with cell phones. The HYPOTHETICAL solution would be that those who consent to tracking could broadcast their locations to their friends, thus making it easy to know if one is in proximity to someone they would like to meet up with.
On the flip side, as we all know, are the privacy issues that stem from this. And, in this day and age I'm certain that there is a lot of room for abuse. The author of the BBC article certainly proved this to be the case. Is is really ever possible to achieve this hypothetical solution where only those who consent to being tracked are tracked?
The BBC author brings up another interesting point that I didn't think of before --the issue of tracking children or minors. For some reason I always assumed that the greatest benefit from this technology would be to track your children and perhaps even keep tabs on whether or not they are visiting "forbidden" areas. Obviously this is not the case as children cannot legally consent to being tracked! So what about that GPS tracking collar thing? How do the children consent there?
The battle between functionality and privacy continues in full force. I'm sure that we'd all like the CONVENIENCE of RFID, biometric scanners, wireless credit cards, wireless passports, etc... but at what price and at what risk to our privacy? Certainly large governments will be the major players behind such schemes. Who knows... for a while privacy rights may be protected... but what about the future? Since the technologies are there then the room for abuse is also there....
Some food for thought.
Matt Wong
http://www.themindofmatthew.com
IAAMTE (I am a mobile telecom engineer)
We can still track them at IMEI (phone serial number) level.
Phone tracking is bad. RFID tracking of people, bad. Spying on people, BAD BAD BAD.
GPS or other tracking is BAD. I won't buy a new cell phone made after 2004 because they have government mandated GPS trackers built in, whether you want it or not. Software controlled shutoffs are garbage; the phone company can switch it back on if they so desire, probably without letting you know, at the request of any figure of authority.
Give me at least a phone where the GPS is a physical module that I can depower or remove. Anything else is a little government/corporate/anybody-who-cares-to spying machine.
As for kidnappers and, oh god, here we go, pedophiles: um, they'd throw the phone in a metal box or down a sewer or onto a freight train bound for Toronto.
Tracking people on cellphones should be done only with the permission of the user. Anything else is just police state horse manure.
I am beginning to realize that my generation, which grew up with an expectation of privacy and dignity, is not explaining the problem to newer generations which grew up in schools with dogs searching their lockers, with strip searches, metal detectors, ID badges, probably anal cavity searches done at will on their persons for no damned reason at all. I've only recently paid attention to how differently most of you view civil liberties, given that you never experienced them. Your gestalt acquiesance to the police state that you poor sods schooled under and then work for is genuinely shocking to me.
I'm saying that you have no problems with being prisoners under a warden 'cause you were brought up that way, "for your safety". It is the fault of decades of parents becoming WAAAAAAYY too overprotective and fearful of bogeymen.
You don't need to be tracked, unless you want to be. You shouldn't be required to be tracked to work for a living. The magic word is "no". Remember the magic word. Teach it to your children in turn.
Remember, remember, the 5th of November.