I know where you are!Your Privacy
Your cell phone tells them exactly where you are, and they're aiming their marketing right at you.
One day, you may be able to say that a cell phone pointed the way to a killer sale at Macy's or even saved your life. In response to an FCC mandate, cell phone service providers are adding location technology to their networks and handsets. The idea is to provide emergency services with location information should you ever dial 911 from your cell phone. Not surprisingly, some folks are already thinking about ways that they can use this technology to turn cell phone subscribers into customers.
Lost and Found
In 1996, the FCC mandated that by October 2001, wireless carriers needed to add to their systems location technology that would locate a handset user within 125 meters for 67 percent of the time. This was dubbed enhanced 911, or E911. Last fall, the FCC issued a revised ruling: handset systems would have to be able to locate callers within 50 meters for 67 percent of the time and within 100 meters for 95 percent of the time. The other part of the mandate? Cell phone service providers rolling out the handsets would also have until December 31, 2004 to achieve compliance.
More time is good news, because cell phone makers and telecommunications companies are in hot competition to figure out which technology will work best to pinpoint 911 callers.
Privacy Concerns
There's no question that E911 will help save lives. But installing location technology in cellular phone handsets and networks opens up a Pandora's box of privacy issues. John Cunningham, marketing and communications manager for SnapTrack, is careful to note that his company's GPS-based location system isn't always on; it's activated only when a customer requests it, as when a 911 call is made. As he puts it, "I want to have control over my location information. Unless I've agreed to it beforehand, I think that I'm the only one who should know where I am."
In fact, those connected with location technology, from wireless carriers to companies developing the systems, are careful to say that they're concerned about individual privacy and are looking into systems for regulating the availability of location information. Yet even the most sincere can't help but talk about situations where, with the best of intentions, location information would be made available without the explicit, on-the-spot consent of the located. For instance, Cunningham relates a benign scenario: an aging parent or relative with Alzheimer's disease sometimes wanders away, and a cell phone (or other device) with location technology constantly active or remotely activated could aid in retrieving that person. Cunningham also says that the Nevada State Gaming Commission wants to have location information in phones so that they can check to see whether a telephone bet is being placed within state lines, which is legal, or is coming from out of state, which is not.
Local Area Marketing
Although those scenarios are on the nice side, marketing folks are practically foaming at the mouth for this technology. How would you feel if you received advertisements on your cell phone for local stores as you were walking down the street? That's exactly the kind of scenario being proposed by industry observers. Of course, you would have previously authorized this sort of access, and such offers would likely be filtered through an information service that you sign up with. Nevertheless, it's becoming increasingly probable that if you own a cell phone, marketers will not only know who you are, but also where you are.
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