Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Tiny Cell Phone or Big Brother?

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 17:32:18 -0500

Tiny Cell Phone or Big Brother?

By Lauren Weinstein (a commentary)

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57040,00.html

02:00 AM Jan. 06, 2003 PT

You've seen the slew of commercials for them. You may already have one in your pocket or
hanging from your belt. New
generations of cell phones appear before you've even figured out all the features of your
current model.

There's much more to consider regarding cellular technology beyond incomprehensible user
manuals and the highly visible
phone radiation and "driving while yakking" controversies.

The latest of these tiny wireless phones (the term "cellular" is now out of favor, we're
told) sport multimedia color displays,
video camera options, precision location tracking and a host of other heavily promoted
features set to hit the mainstream this
year.

Yet little thought has been given to how these advanced capabilities could affect society.

Commercials for these devices tend to emphasize their most benign aspects. Commuters play
games, separated lovers send
text messages, and a housewife lures her husband away from the poker game with photos of
her culinary masterpieces.

These are credible enough applications, but they're unlikely to be the big moneymakers for
the wireless companies and their
cohorts.

The serious income streams from the new wireless systems are likely to result from
attempts to satisfy appetites not for
home-cooked meals, but for other types of activities. Visually seductive gambling and
pornography, for example, are certain
matches to these phones' capabilities.

Like them or not, these applications are coming.

The new wireless systems introduce a range of other complex issues. Even older cell phones
could easily be used as audio
bugs, often without any modifications.

Wireless networks provide the perfect infrastructure for feeding audio -- and now video --
back to parties located anywhere
on the planet. Wireless spycams could be planted anywhere, to be used for good or ill.
Whistleblowers, voyeurs and spies are
headed for a bonanza.

News gathering is also likely to change. The ability for virtually anyone to capture
photos of ongoing events, such as accidents,
disasters or crimes in progress, and almost instantly send them back to a website, news
bureau or other globally accessible
source has vast implications.

When images can be transmitted so easily and rapidly in real time, a common technique for
trying to prevent the publication of
undesirable photos -- grabbing the camera and smashing it -- will no longer be effective.

The wireless carriers are likely to encourage all of these applications to the greatest
extent possible. After all, they're in the
business of selling airtime.

It's not just about audio and video, either.

The increasing accuracy of the location-tracking systems implemented in wireless phones
and their supporting networks should
also raise a red flag.

Nobody would argue the value of using location data to find a person buried in a
snowdrift, or having a map pop up on a
phone's screen to help someone locate an unfamiliar destination.

But while we're typically assured that location data would only be used commercially with
our permission, the mere ability to
gather that information suggests the possibility of vast databases tracking the movements
of virtually every wireless phone user,
even retrospectively over long periods.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies will view this as a treasure trove. Given the
new surveillance powers recently ceded
to the government, it's unclear if court orders or even subpoenas would be necessary for
government to use wireless location
data for a range of purposes, with obvious risks for abuse.

The potential for individuals to abuse this tracking technology is very real. In one
recent case, a man was arrested for stalking
after using a GPS/cellular system planted under the hood of his ex-girlfriend's car. The
location-tracking capabilities of the
brand-new phones could make this sort of antisocial behavior even easier.

The impact of new technologies is about to blindside society yet again. We must update our
thinking -- and in some cases our
laws -- to take into account the ways in which wireless is very literally changing our
world.

Lauren Weinstein has been involved with the Internet for decades, beginning with ARPANET.
He is the co-founder of
People for Internet Responsibility, the creator and moderator of the Privacy Forum and an
outspoken commentator on
technology and society.

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,57040,00.html

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