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Franken Bill Would Protect Consumers Location Data

Posted by samzenpus on from the covering-your-tracks dept.

GovTechGuy writes "Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) unveiled a new bill on Wednesday that would require firms like Apple and Google to obtain consent from consumers before collecting or sharing their smartphone location data with third parties. The bill would cover all mobile devices including tablets and require firms to inform consumers when they collect their data and allow them to delete it when requested."

30 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Govt.? by Joehonkie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does "third parties" include the government?

    1. Re:Govt.? by Jabrwock · · Score: 4, Informative
      No. The bill explicitly states that it does not affect collection of data by law enforcement, or transfer of location data to law enforcement.

      That's covered under a different bill.

      http://franken.senate.gov/files/docs/110614_The_Location_Privacy_Protection_Act_of_2011_One_pager.pdf

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      Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
    2. Re:Govt.? by Jabrwock · · Score: 2

      That's debatable, and several courts have allowed things like location trackers without warrant, and the searching of cell phones and computers. There's a new bill in the works to explicitly require warrants for electronic surveillance.

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      Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
    3. Re:Govt.? by JordanL · · Score: 2

      As much as I think it should be, it is by no means obvious that knowledge of a particular person's current or past locations constitutes a "search or seizure".

      Sure it's easier with a database, but police don't need a warrant to go to the coffee shop and as "has Joe Blow been here recently?" nor should they. I think this is a much more genuine debate than most people see it as, although I don't think having complete information of past locations is the same, and thus should be subject to a warrant and judicial oversight. I'm simply pointing out that it's not crazy to consider this merely and extension of what has been happening with location and the police for over 100 years.

      --
      FanFictionRecs.net
  2. Not sure why they mention Google... by Sierra+Charlie · · Score: 3, Informative

    Location sharing in Android is already opt-in, with a per-app or per-website granularity.

    1. Re:Not sure why they mention Google... by lrobert98 · · Score: 4, Informative

      But the OS itself is doing it.

    2. Re:Not sure why they mention Google... by blair1q · · Score: 4, Funny

      If by "opt-in" you mean "opt-in or this app won't work even though it's not obvious at all why a game involving flinging birds at pigs would require such a thing..."

    3. Re:Not sure why they mention Google... by wumpus188 · · Score: 2

      If you're talking about Angry Birds on Android, "coarse location data" is AdMob requirement.

    4. Re:Not sure why they mention Google... by blair1q · · Score: 2

      Angry Birds works just fine in Airplane mode. Doesn't even put up a blank box where the ad it fails to fetch would go.

  3. Re:eula by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Informative

    You missed the second part. You can tell them to delete your location information, and they'd be compelled by law to do so. That would definetly be different.

  4. Re:EULA by lrobert98 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps. But at least they'll have to explicitly state that they're collecting the data and also tell you how they're sharing it. They'll also have to give you a way to delete your data. It's a big step in the right direction.

  5. FrankenBill by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do not expose it to fire. "It's Alive!"

    1. Re:FrankenBill by mangu · · Score: 2

      When I saw the title I thought they had merged bits and pieces of several dead bills.

  6. define "collecting" by Frequency+Domain · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apple had the data on the device and included it in a readable format in backups to your sync machine, but they weren't "collecting" it in any meaningful sense of the word. The info wasn't being sent back to Apple or to third parties without consent, it was used as a cache to speed local operations. Is caching now considered collecting?

    1. Re:define "collecting" by sexconker · · Score: 2, Informative

      Cache comes from the Latin cogere. To collect. A cache is a collection.
      The modern (bastardized by the French) usage of a cache adds "hidden" to the meaning.

      Apple storing location data in a specific location it knows about and consumers don't (or don't have access to / full control over) is both collecting it and hiding it.
      They may not be retrieving that information, nor may they have any intent to do so.
      But they are collecting it.

  7. Huge Kudos! by Lou57 · · Score: 2
    This legislation is a breath of fresh air in a world where people buy and sell information about me for their marketing purposes. Let me add to this though ...

    I hope that this legislation will require that this consent must be obtained outside a standard EULA.
    I hope that this legislation can be extended to ANY device that tracks my location, such as future cars.
    I hope that this legislation can be extended to REQUIRE a warrant before any one can provide this information to the government.

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    Lou
  8. I dont have a problem with by nimbius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Franken Bill, so long as its in by 8:00 and not rampaging through downtown like Franken Stein.

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    Good people go to bed earlier.
  9. Great idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    He's good enough, he's smart enough, and dog gone it...PEOPLE LIKE HIM!!!

  10. About Al by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not to threadjack, but if we're talking about Sen. Franken...

    Al Franken reads the 4th Amendment to a justice department official defending the PATRIOT act:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A8A7hsDOAw

    Al Franken's recent vote on extending the Patriot Act (from Project VoteSmart)

    02/15/2011 Extension of Various Patriot Act Provisions HR 514 Y Bill Passed - Senate

    That Y means Yea.

    ??

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    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    1. Re:About Al by p0p0 · · Score: 2

      Y means Yea.? I would have thought it meant Year. Interesting.

    2. Re:About Al by geekmux · · Score: 2

      Even if his vote was "I consent" instead of "I agree", that still means he consented to the bill. This is something that deserves vehement opposition, not a tepid rant followed by capitulation.

      Exactly. The only "extension" to any part of the "Patriot" act should be to extend the staples holding it together before it gets tossed into the shredder...never to be brought up again.

    3. Re:About Al by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 2

      Deserves, yes.

      Unfortunately, we still live in an America in which someone who votes against the Patriot Act will be demogogued in the next election as being "soft on terrorists" and not caring enough about the safety of Americans.

      Also unfortunately, we get the government we deserve as a people.

    4. Re:About Al by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      that he voted quid for some pro quo elsewhere. That's how representative government works. It'd gridlock otherwise

      Which means votes can be bought. Either thru favors, the buddy system, or just not bothering to read the bill and looking to what the 'leaders' are doing ("lets pass this and see what we get").

      That is what you get. Vote buying. To the highest bidder. Do not tolerate it from your representatives even when you did/didnt vote for them.

  11. Re:Um.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, but it DOESN'T require your consent when it sends that location information, along with a unique device identifier, back to Apple.

    And if you think I'm referring to that whole thing a while back about how your iPhone "track you" in a secret file, I'm not. It turns out that whenever anything looks up a location on your iPhone - and this includes things like the camera! - the iPhone will look for nearby WiFi sites, and then upload your GPS coordinates along with a list of WiFi sites to Apple. This is sent along with an "anonymous" unique device ID.

    You can't opt out of that. Well, you can if you disable location services entirely for the entire phone. But if you're going to do that, you might as well get a cheaper phone that has no GPS.

    But even if you go that route with the iPhone, even with location services off, Apple still tracks your IP and uses geolocation services to determine your location if you use any app that uses iAd. And, again, you CAN'T opt out of this.

  12. So the collection cannot be anonymous? by juancn · · Score: 2
    I'm not sure this is a good thing. If the y have to let you delete it, they have to know it's your data.

    Right now, collection is anonymous, that is, it is not tagged with your identity. If they must let you delete it, anonymity goes out the window.

    1. Re:So the collection cannot be anonymous? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2

      The data could be associated to a non-reversible hash of identity information disclosed only to you. You tell them to delete all data associated with the hash. Technically it isn't anonymous, it's pseudonymous: the hash is your pseudonym.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  13. Re:eula by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    I think in general, if you're concerned about warranted seizures of your information, you've got a lot else to worry about in the near future. I'm not sure I see the problem.

  14. The *consent* will be buried in the EULA by andi75 · · Score: 2

    Asking for consent is absolutely meaningless. In order to get security updates, you'll have to accept the new EULA and will be forced to agree to whatever they ask.

    The only way out is to make it illegal to store any more data then is absolutely necessary (e.g. a train time table app only needs your location *now* to find the nearest station, but has no business of retaining that data) for the normal operation of the application.

  15. OK for Government, but Not Private Industry by Pauldow · · Score: 2

    So they want to restrict private companies from collecting and sharing someone's location data, yet the federal government is planning on implementing a rule that requires someone flying in a private plane to have a verified and approved security threat before they will prevent the government's location tracking to be made public. http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/barr/20110318-barr-bolen-aopa.php
    This is referred to as the TMZ bill since it will allow paparazzi to know the location of celebrities. It will also allow companies to learn where their competitor's aircraft are.

    There's just one more step before toll transponder information is made public too.

  16. why stop at mobile? by sixsixtysix · · Score: 2

    why stop at mobile?

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