Questionable Phone Tracking Proposal “Premature”
April 5th, 2006
DRI today became aware of a plan to introduce a commercial mobile phone tracking service. Although marketed as being intended for parents to keep track of their children, this was also open to allow any phone user to being tracked by anyone else who had access to their phone for a short period.
The Irish Times report on this service from today can be found here and a Guardian report on some of the potential abuses of this kind of service can be found here. In addition, it is clear that this service is a breach of the spirit and letter of the Data Protection Acts at multiple levels.
That information is being passed by the mobile operators to this service is one breach. There are protections in place precisely to prevent personal private data being sold for third party profit in this way. The failure to provide a method of providing ongoing consent, or a method of withdrawing or withholding consent is another.
It should also be noted that even in the case of the suggested use of this service children have privacy rights, albeit ones circumscribed to varying degrees depending on their age and vulnerability. It may be presumed that children with mobile phones are not infants and will therefore have a reasonable right not to have their data protection rights abused, and their private information sold, without their knowledge or consent.
In response to this story, DRI released the following press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Digital Rights Ireland today wrote to the Data Protection Commissioner
to express its concern at the introduction of mobile phone tracking
services in Ireland.‘Mobile phone tracking services have clear potential for abuse and
comprehensive safeguards need to be in place to ensure that the tracked
person has given full, ongoing, informed consent to being tracked’ said
TJ McIntyre of Digital Rights Ireland.ENDS.
We also, as it says, contacted the Data Protection Commissioner. We heard back from the Data Protection Commissioner’s office this afternoon. Apparently, following our highlighting of the issue, the DPC had been in contact with Top Security, the company identified as planning the introduction of this service. The announcement of this service was described as having been premature.
If we do hear of such a tracking service being launched by either Top Security or any other company, including the mobile operators themselves, it will be particularly interesting to see how it remains within the terms of the Data Protection Acts.
Entry Filed under: DRI, Mass surveillance
13 Comments Add your own
1. Tuppenceworth.ie blog &ra&hellip | April 5th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
[...] UPDATE from Simon: There’s service for you. I alerted DRI to this story this morning and I see that they’ve managed to get the plan shelved by close of business. Digital Rights Ireland» DRI» Phone Calls» Phone Tap» privacy» [...]
2. Ally | April 6th, 2006 at 9:49 am
o2 have been able to do this sans software for a good year and a half with pretty accurate results
3. potato | April 6th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Nice one – hope you get some publicity out of this.
4. Digital Privacy: Knock 3r&hellip | April 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
[...] 2. What assurance does the user have that the information will be stored securely? This service surely goes against Data Protection Commission. As the DRI mention, “There are protections in place precisely to prevent personal private data being sold for third party profit in this way.” [...]
5. Fergal | April 20th, 2006 at 11:13 am
The Data Protections Commissioner’s comments don’t seem to have quite gotten through to the promoters of this service, who are proudly displaying the press attention here:
http://topsec.kcodns.com/script_press.asp
6. DOB-Blog » Conflict&hellip | May 16th, 2006 at 10:51 am
[...] My response to this argument was to point out that the expectation of society as to the acceptable standards of conduct are expressed in law, both statute and judicial. Just because a product or service meets or exceeds the expectations of a targetted customer it does not mean that it can be produced if the laws of society would preclude it. A good example of this is the location tracking tools that were being deployed by a Dublin security company. The prompt action of Digital Rights Ireland in alerting the Data Protection Commissioner resulted in the expectation of society of privacy (albeit curtailed somewhat for children) was asserted and the product had to be withdrawn. [...]
7. Paul | September 18th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Our company have have made good profit for the last twenty years without tracking.\
they installed satellite tracking on the vans without telling the workers about twelve mounths ago.
four of the good workers jacked up.
They will not put tracking on my phone as i will turn it off and not use it.
This is only going to be used by incompetant managers to blame workers for not conforming to the stazi paddies greed.
We have to work harder while the managers sit on their holes watching us on P.C.s. and getting higher wages.
8. FlasheR!&hellip | June 7th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
And some else, come here……
The most interest!…
9. alan nugent | July 7th, 2007 at 1:05 am
I cant see what the problem is regarding this system.
To know where your children are is every parents concern.
To reject this service would be ashame and nothing more than
banana republicism
10. james wykes | July 25th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
all for it now you will ways no where thy are.
11. Soundman | October 1st, 2007 at 11:49 pm
The problem is it can be abused. Someone can plant a mobile phone in (or under) your car and stalk your every move. And you’ll never know anything about it. Does this mobile phone tracking service exist yet in Ireland? It does in the UK – not sure about Ireland. If so, who provides it?
12. Laura | April 30th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hi, i have friend who is getting horrible messages from a strange number, really abusive messages, we don’t know the number and no-one of her friends know this number.
Can you do anything for her?
13. John Smith | August 13th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
how do i find out who the hell is stalking my phone , with out going to the cops… ireland dublin.
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