[governance] Phone Trackers - Privacy Rights???

Thu Apr 28 15:26:15 EDT 2011

I read this article this morning and found it interesting on a whole number
of levels. Whilst it has become normal for people to expect invasion of
privacy in the West (Asia, Russia etc), the East (US etc) has often been
long associated with advocating civil liberties.

However, the overdrive by commercial companies to take marketing to a new
level, from beyond knowing where they live (jurisdictions like Fiji  it is
mandatory for operators to register every phone sold and to whom and if you
lose a phone you must inform the companies that sold it to you), to desiring
to know movement, what transactions take place via phones, what you eat etc
in the desire to create and sell better products, lifestyle changes etc.

I recall the NZ Cyber Crime Police investigating Google for taking unlawful
shots and pictures of some of the towns and cities for Google Earth etc.

Whilst it was somewhat "normal" to expect surveillance (however discreet)
from governments, like in France etc, it was not and never normal for
commercial entities to cross over. Now they have.

Clearly where technology advancements in the past were locked down and
secured by usually Military Laboratories, we are  finding more and more that
corporates who heavily invest into Research and Development since the 80s
are at par if not way more tech savvy than their military research and
development which is possibly one of the reasons why private corporates in
some jurisdictions are contracted to develop for countries military systems
etc.

These phone trackers are very low level of course.

iPhones don't track anyone; Google handsets do, says Steve Jobs
Posted By TelecomTV
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Tags: *iPhone <http://www.telecomtv.com/results.aspx?tag=100&tagname=iPhone>
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It seems that although Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, is off work on long-term
sick leave he still keeps a god-like eye on us all and, from time to time,
even answers our prayers - or perhaps he doesn't. Martyn Warwick reports.

US politicians are taking seriously recent revelations that the likes of
Apple and Google have been secretly tracking the locations of users of their
devices. The House Energy and and Commerce Committee has written to the
CEO's of these (and other) corporations asking them to provide information
about such practices and why they are doing it. A Congressional
investigation could follow.

Senior executives at Apple are asked, "What location data do devices running
your operating system track, use, store, or share?" and "Why does the device
track, use, store, or share that data?" Those companies sent the letters
(HP, Microsoft, Nokia and RIM are on the list as well as Apple and Google)
have to respond by "no later than May 9, 2011."

After last week's revelations that each iPhone stores a user's unencrypted
location data for months at a time and routinely sends it back to the
company without the user being aware, it has also come to light that
Google's Android smartphones do exactly the same thing. The question is
"why?"

And now the concern that was initially confined to the US is spreading
around the world. There is considerable disquiet in Europe and now the South
Korean regulator is demanding information on the secretive and possibly
illegal practice.

And outraged reaction is also spreading across America.
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In Tampa, Florida, two iPhone users have filed a federal class-action suit
against Apple on the grounds that they would not have bought the devices had
they been made aware that the company would clandestinely track their
movements.

Apple and Google have said almost nothing in response to the growing chorus
of disapproval about their sneaky machinations but both companies have, in
the past, confirmed that users can stop location data being collected via
the simple expedient of turning-off the device's location-based services.

However, when the news about the alleged tracking broke, the Wall Street
Journal newspaper undertook an investigation of its own and found that the
disablement of location-based services on the iPhone 4 it used had no effect
on the collection and retention of location data.

Then, yesterday evening London-time, the story got an extra twist when the
MacRumors site reported that it had made email contact with Steve Jobs
himself and asked him about the tracking allegations.

Here is a transcript of the MacRumors exchange with the sainted Steve.

"Q: Steve, Could you please explain the necessity of the passive
location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It's kind of unnerving knowing
that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed
some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me."

A: Oh yes they do. We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is
false. Sent from my iPhone.

Now, first off, we don't know that Jobs himself was the one who replied, and
secondly, the response leaves much unanswered. For example is the responder
denying that the iPhone's tracking capability doesn't exist? (When we know
that it does and there's plenty of independent evidence to prove it). Or is
the reply no more than a reiteration that although the embedded tracking
facility exists, Apple does not actually collect and manipulate the data
that is periodically downloaded from the devices? And, if that's the case,
why does the location tracking and time stamping happen in the first place?

I think we should be told. People will probably have something quite rude
to say about their mobile handsets becoming de facto electronic tagging
devices that just happen go in your pocket or purse rather than around the
ankle. The effect is the same though - they know where you are.
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