Politech: FC: Privacy activists want wireless devices regulated

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40623,00.html

   FTC Tackles Wireless Regulation
   by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
   2:00 a.m. Dec. 13, 2000 PST

   WASHINGTON -- If you're an inside-the-Beltway privacy nut, your worst
   fear goes something like this: Your cell phone will begin to chirp
   with a Big Mac ad whenever you wander too close to a set of McDonald's
   golden arches.

   Walk by Starbucks, and your pager will warble with news of a sale --
   today only! -- on a tall latte for just $1.95. When you get a divorce,
   your spouse's lawyer will subpoena your Palm VII e-mail records and
   prove that you were working on something more than an urgent project
   during all those late nights.

   Warning darkly of the twin perils of surveillance and spam, advocates
   gathered at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on Tuesday to
   recommend more federal regulations directed at the growing wireless
   content industry.

   Evan Hendricks, publisher of Privacy Times, said wireless devices
   "must" have their defaults set so they do not broadcast their
   locations. David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy
   Information Center, complained that self regulation has not "worked
   all that well" and said the feds must step in.

   The FTC event, which began Monday afternoon, was originally intended
   to let commission staff know what was happening in the wireless
   industry. But it drew so much attention it expanded into a series of
   panel discussions, complete with a nanoscopic trade show made up of
   about seven mostly abandoned tables set up in the FTC's cafeteria.

   For their part, businesses pointed to the work they've already done
   toward protecting privacy and letting consumers choose to enable
   location-broadcasting information.

   [...]




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