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This is unrelated to IP - the telcos are looking at mobile phone position, even for simple voice phones. They argue that they aren't violating privacy as data i

This is unrelated to IP - the telcos are looking at mobile phone position, even for simple voice phones. They argue that they aren't violating privacy as data is only provided in aggregate for eg postal districts, but that's only their position.

Retric 13y ago
This can in theory be used for good things. Take Say a random 1% of the population each day and track there position and you can get vary good data on where traffic problems are. And not just where accidents are but also where people slow down which can be a sign of a pothole or something in the road etc. Granted there are huge privacy issues with this, however if you could track most cars you would get much better idea how to change traffic lights / patterns based on time of day and day of year. Because, small issues tend to propagate all over the place so small and cheap changes can make a rather large difference.
- nraynaud 13y ago
  The projects I was involved with were more about appraising the value of a shop's position, the value of billboards, and also some time and space related thing (like "where do the people passing in front of my shop sleep?" and "what's the peak in my street?", "how many out-of-area people pass in front of my shop?"). But it's true that I also know of one project that uses phone data to check highway traffic congestion (A6 in Provence, France). It's also ad-related, because the data is sold to media companies whose major income is form advertisement.
discostrings 13y ago
My initial thoughts were about combining web browsing history and internet usage with location information, but you're right--a lot of analysis could be done purely with your location history and your personal information that the telco has on file. That analysis is much less preventable, short of not using mobile telcos. This sort of thing really should be opt-in--otherwise, the by-product (personal data) will become the business, and the mobile service will move towards being merely a means to that end.

Retric 13y ago

This can in theory be used for good things. Take Say a random 1% of the population each day and track there position and you can get vary good data on where traffic problems are. And not just where accidents are but also where people slow down which can be a sign of a pothole or something in the road etc. Granted there are huge privacy issues with this, however if you could track most cars you would get much better idea how to change traffic lights / patterns based on time of day and day of year. Because, small issues tend to propagate all over the place so small and cheap changes can make a rather large difference.

nraynaud 13y ago
The projects I was involved with were more about appraising the value of a shop's position, the value of billboards, and also some time and space related thing (like "where do the people passing in front of my shop sleep?" and "what's the peak in my street?", "how many out-of-area people pass in front of my shop?"). But it's true that I also know of one project that uses phone data to check highway traffic congestion (A6 in Provence, France). It's also ad-related, because the data is sold to media companies whose major income is form advertisement.

discostrings 13y ago

My initial thoughts were about combining web browsing history and internet usage with location information, but you're right--a lot of analysis could be done purely with your location history and your personal information that the telco has on file. That analysis is much less preventable, short of not using mobile telcos. This sort of thing really should be opt-in--otherwise, the by-product (personal data) will become the business, and the mobile service will move towards being merely a means to that end.