[governance] GPS mandatory on all mobile phones to be manufactured in India.

Ang Peng Hwa (Prof) TPHANG at ntu.edu.sg
Wed Apr 27 02:49:20 EDT 2016


Thanks Harish.

The concerns I have seen re GPS chips are misplaced then. The concerns should really be about the use of the data by other apps. And a lot of them are gathering excessively already.

The possible abuse of a technology should not be a reason not to have the technology. All powerful technologies are susceptible to abuse.

Regards,
ANG Peng Hwa


-------- Original Message --------
From: Harish Pillay <harish.pillay at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 11:18 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org,Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [governance] GPS mandatory on all mobile phones to be manufactured in India.
CC: George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky at gmail.com>,"Ang Peng Hwa (Prof)" <TPHANG at ntu.edu.sg>


> In this article, the sub-section titled "malware can turn on webcam" is what
> causes concern. This danger is explained in greater detail in the article
> http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/how-hackers-can-switch-on-your-webcam-and-control-your-computer-20130328-2gvwv.html
>
> My concern about GPS is on a similar abuse of technology.

The GPS chips are receive only. The information it receives is then used
by whatever application to then do as the application pleases based on
the permissions granted to the application by the device.

Most technologies have dual purpose possibilities. A person trying to
track her family via GPS enabled devices and appropriate apps would say
that this is a wonderful thing and at the same time, be concerned that since
she can track her family, so can anyone else. What is needed is trusted
applications that declare what they are doing (along with view of the
source code)
to ensure that nothing is amiss and that there is a clear and defined set
of considerations that are enumerated and understood.

Harish

________________________________
CONFIDENTIALITY: This email is intended solely for the person(s) named and may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it, notify us and do not copy, use, or disclose its contents.
Towards a sustainable earth: Print only when necessary. Thank you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20160427/04abec20/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t


More information about the Governance mailing list