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Interesting GPS article in NY Times

There was an interesting article in the New York Times this weekend on the increase in the number of GPS enabled application that are finding homes on cell phones.  The article highlights that growth and sophistication in the applications that will pin point your location on a map, show us local movie theaters, guide us to nearby restaurants, and more.  The author, Randall Stross, further highlights recent product launches by Sprints Boost Mobile with the social networking application called Loopt (blogged here), and Buddy Beacon, a friend finder from startup Helio (blogged here). 

The article continues to give a general overview of the applications, highlighting the security/privacy  aspects of each - showing that the Helio application does not automatically provide updates, and the Boost application allows for updated location posting at 15 minute intervals. The author then takes a clear turn to the Big Brother privacy angle and highlights how easy it could be for your location information to be shared without your knowledge, highlighting the highly publicized Hewlett Packard scandal. 

To his credit, Mr. Stross highlights the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999,  which brought the e911 mandate to wireless carriers.  The mandate requires wireless carriers (at varying degrees of of accuracy and over a period of time)  to provide the location to first responders/ and law enforcement in the event of a 911 call, and in some other situations.  I have not found any stats on the success of the element of the act, but undoubtedly it has saved lives.  In this act, Congress also deemed location information as protected as CPNI (consumer proprietary network information).  The author did not point out however that in July 2002, the FCC passed their Final Order on CPNI.  The order require the express consent or opt-in by a customer before a carrier can release their information to a third party.  While not rock solid (due to the "affiliates language" that remains somewhat vague), I think carriers understand that they need your permission to release your location data to another person/entity. 

While a good article, I don't like the negative implications of the GPS services.  They are built by companies that want to help people connect with others.  There are features built in that allow you to turn off your location, or disable the application from updating your location.  Further, these apps require that the subscriber invite others into their group, thus controlling who can locate them.    Rather than the negative, it would be great to see some press on how these applications are helping people keep in touch - and I would love to see stats on e911 if anyone knows where to find them.

LBS Privacy

As location based services become more popular through the expansion of carrier platforms and the continued development of applications, protecting a users privacy will become a focal point.  I suspect that many organizations will try to be a voice for the consumer and seek to establish their own agenda.

In a story by Brian Heater the July 2006 LAPTOP magazine, Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, opined that "Location data can be sold to data warehouses, and other people can purchase logs of where you go".   While technically possible, I think that this is unlikely.  Wireless carriers have much more to gain from the constructive use of location information by an end user, than from packaging up someones bread crumb trails and selling it to a marketer.  As a marketer, I can think of a few ways that this data can be used.  For example, if I can determine based on your commuting routes that you pass by a Shell gas station on the way to work, and a Texaco on the way home, I might want to send an SMS to you in the afternoon to encourage you to stop at Texaco to fill 'er up.

Alarmists might also point to the Albert Belle story Albert Belle arrested for using GPS to track ex-girlfriend. It should be pointed out that he did not use a cell phone, rather a stand alone GPS device. 

The  important thing to understand in the use of mobile LBS application is that the user is (an always should be) in control of the data.  For example, on a Sprint iDEN (read: Nextel) device, when invoked an application will ask the user for permission to capture their location. A user can select one of three options, 1. Yes, for this session, 2. Always, for this application, 3. Never. The user has to grant the application the right to determine their location.  If denied, the application will not work, and the users location will not be determined. 

Application developers can and will capture the location info to be used for that application while there is an active session.  Once the user terminates the application, the location fixes will stop.  Depending on the type of application, the developer will have limited data on the location of the user. It will not be "tracking" the user all day.  In my opinion, the data may be more valuable in aggregate to GPS OEMs, or if the application delivers POIs, the search requests may be more valuable.

If wireless carriers are going to harness more value from the use of GPS on devices, they must make sure that user data is secure.  I have not read the CPNI laws, but I would imagine that user GPS data falls under CPNI.