Living Transparently

[andrewducker]

[Poll #347275]

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

This is assuming I could trust the people who ran the service to not abuse the data (and I probably wouldn't trust any such service, so it's a moot point).

[andrewducker]

Do you trust your phone provider not to listen to your conversations?

Do you trust your domain provider not to read your emails?

Do you think that the people running such a service have much to gain from knowing that you're in the local corner shop?

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

No, I don't, but in the first case, I don't use the phone for anything I wouldn't want broadcast on the front page of the New York Times (not because I don't trust the phone company, but because I don't like talking on the phone), and in the second case, I *do* trust my ISP -- my ISP is just this one guy and he seems pretty cool -- but of course I don't trust every ISP that owns a server that a packet might travel through on its way to my inbox. But in that case, I kind of have to go with it in order to use email (unless I want to encrypt everything, which makes it harder for other people to communicate with me, etc, etc, and isn't necessarily foolproof). In the case of the locator service, I'm not really sure how much benefit I would derive from it (I get along fine without it now), so I have little incentive to acquire yet *another* entity that I Just Have To Trust.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

1] I assume that they do.

2] I assume that they do

3] Yes.

In summary: postmen read postcards. It's one of those things. Advertising companies like to know about demographics. In as much detail as possible. So knowing that someone goes to the corner shop at 4pm is useful, to somebody.

But in a situation where you -can't- trust information transfer services, you either make do, or live like a crazy person.

[andrewducker]

While I fully expect individuals to go snooping about and see what information they can look at, in general I don't expect companies to do so. At least not large ones that care about their reputation.

This isn't because I think they're nice - but because companies with any intelligence know that eventually secrets leak out. And that when they do people get very upset and the Data Protection people jump on you from a great height.

Re: tracker

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

If anyone wants to know where I'm at, they can call my cellphone and ask. Possibly I'll tell them.

Yes, I know, it's possible to track people by cellphone to some degree. Well, it provides other services and such data isn't generally available...

Re: tracker

[andrewducker]

It's certainly possible to tell what Cell you're in. With a bit of playing around I'm fairly sure that the telecoms people could track you down to a 100m accuracy.

But they probably don't want to.

Re: tracker

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's rather the point. I'm not as careful as some of my more paranoid friends and I know that there is much data on me out there that's accessible with some work. I figure if anyone wants the data, they can do the work; I'm not going to do it for them.

Re: tracker

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

They can and they do. Logs are kept by the mobile phone companies of the whereabouts of each handset. There have been a couple of trials recently where it was proven that an indivuals mobile phone was at the scene of a crime. I can't find any details of the cases but I do recall reading about them in the newspapers.

Of coure the obvious solution is to switch the phone off before robbing a bank.

I also read about a service which allows parents to dial a number and then obtain the location of their kids mobile phone. I'm not sure if it is available yet or not, but in this paranoid age I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

The location of mobile phones is apparently also tracked and the data used to compile traffic reports.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992396

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

My (recently acquired) mobile phone lives in a state of mostly switched off.

Finding me isn't hard if you know where to look. But it's nice that it involves effort...

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

God, no, never in a million years.

It's not what companies, or even individuals, could do with the data, it's the fact that They can and will make inferences about motivation and intentions that will be simply incorrect and which -- more importantly -- you will have no power to correct or control. It's not so much that They can build up a picture of you, but that the chances are it will be wrong (because it's only a part of the picture).

What if the system places you at the scene and time of a murder you were not even aware of, for example? Straight away you are a suspect. You cannot help the Police because you witnessed nothing. But you will be forever a murder suspect.

OK, that's an extreme example, but ... No, thank you.

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

There are some people I wouldn't feel safe knowing my whereabouts any time they wanted to, and some (work people, for example) who have no business knowing but would look. Plus, of course, sometimes I do illegal things, so I'd rather the police couldn't check. But if I believed that the company wouldn't give access to unauthorised (by me) people, I'd use it occasionally. I'm not sure I do believe that, though.

[adders.livejournal.com]

I was shown a demo of a system doing what you describe down to a 10m accuracy in certain places just two days ago. This isn't theoretical, this is up and working.