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internetworkers - Re: High-tech homing devices worry privacy advocates

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  • From: mdthomas AT mindspring.com
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: High-tech homing devices worry privacy advocates
  • Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 22:42:58 -0500



>Didn't I read something here about
>how cell phones were going to have
>GPS built into them within the next
>couple of years, due to a federal
>mandate?

I think so... for 911 service. Doesn't
require GPS -- your local telco can triangulate
location to a few square meters based on
signal strength. But to do so, they have
to sacrifice bandwidth that would otherwise
be used for service.

I don't think it's clear yet the legalities
of the telcos making use of your exact location, or
passing it that to websites... This ties
back to the idea of the coffee shop calling
you as you walk by it to tell you that they'll
give you a discount on coffee. (IMHO, the first
company to do this will have the honor of
killing an entire industry segment.) Even if this
kind of activity passes legal muster, telcos would
still have to be willing to sacrifice bandwidth
(and possibly revenue) to implement such a service.

However, the PQA model from Palm makes it very easy
for the app developer to know the zip code where the
device currently is, and in general the telco can
easily pass the cell of a wireless device to an
application if the telco chooses to.







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