Comment Articles

Cellphones betray your every move

Declan McCullagh CNET News.com

Published: 19 Aug 2003 13:55 BST

I recently bought a Nokia 3650 cellphone, a curvaceous feat of engineering that includes a video camera, Bluetooth, Symbian's Java operating system, and Internet connectivity. About the only feature the Nokia lacks is a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

But it turns out that even without a GPS receiver -- which can calculate someone's location through satellite positioning -- your wireless provider may still be collecting and recording pretty detailed information about your whereabouts.

What's mildly disturbing is that the legal standards governing who has access to that location information remain unclear. For instance, your location could be private when making voice calls, but disclosed when you're browsing the Web or sending SMS text messages. Courts have not offered much guidance so far, although the Federal Communications Commission set a deadline of last Friday for public comments on whether it should start an E911 proceeding that might clarify matters.

First, some history. In 1997, the FCC ordered the wireless industry to jumpstart so-called Enhanced 911 (E911) technology, which lets a cellular provider determine the location of a cellphone to within several hundred feet. The justification was the obvious one: without a way to determine the physical location of someone who dials 911 in an emergency, lives might be lost.

Since then, the FCC has made the requirements more detailed. If a wireless company uses a handset-based technique (such as Assisted GPS) in the phone, it must be able to pinpoint callers to about 165 feet for 67 percent of their calls, and to about 495 feet for 95 percent of their calls. Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications have chosen this route.

Companies that locate a customer through network techniques -- such as triangulating position using multiple cell towers -- have more leeway. They must be able to locate callers to about 330 feet for 67 percent of their calls, and to about 990 feet for 95 percent of their calls. AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile have taken this network approach.