RE: Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone trackingdata

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Shouldn't it be up to the individual customer to decide that there is no
harm with their cellphone position information is being sold by their
wireless company?  As far as I can tell, none of the wireless companies who
are involved in these tests have even taken the reasonable step of notifying
their customers that their cellphone position data is being sold.  They
don't even want to be identified it seems.  If there is no harm, why all the
secrecy?

Richard 

-----Original Message-----
From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org] On
Behalf Of Anthony Rodgers
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 4:24 PM
To: funsec () linuxbox org
Subject: Re: [funsec] Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone
trackingdata

Can I chip in here?

If the positioning data is unaccompanied by any personally identifying
information whatsoever, what harm?

Regards,
--
Anthony Rodgers
Business Systems Analyst
District of North Vancouver
Web: http://www.dnv.org
RSS Feed: http://www.dnv.org/rss.asp


On Nov 29, 2005, at 9:11 AM, Richard M. Smith wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The Baltimore Sun and New York Times recently ran articles about the 
> State
> of Maryland getting ready to roll out a traffic flow monitoring system 
> which
> works by tracking the position of cellphones which are being carried in
> cars.  The Baltimore Sun article is still online at this URL:
>
>    Cell phone data tracing traffic in Md.
>    System 'watches' vehicles, raises fears about privacy
>    http://tinyurl.com/7we6q
>
> Virginia and Missouri are also about ready to test similar systems.
>
> I want to see a requirement put into place that wireless companies 
> must get
> a customer's written consent before any of  their cellphone position 
> data is
> turned over to a third-party for any uses not related to making 
> cellphone
> calls.
>
> I recent contacted the Maryland Highway Department and requested a 
> copy of
> the contract for the system.  The contract is now online as a Word 
> document
> file on my Web site:
>
>    http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/mdotcontract.doc
>
> I haven't had time to review the contract yet, but I did see that the 
> funds
> for this Maryland project are coming from the Federal Highway 
> Administration
> (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/).  Perhaps the FHWA are the folks who should 
> be
> requiring consumers to provide consent to have their cellphone 
> position data
> sold to other companies.
>
> Richard M. Smith
> http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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