GPS Tracking Systems » GPS tracking and privacy

84% of survey respondents want child tracking service

Rich — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:13:58 +0000

Tele Atlas, the road navigation data company being bought by TomTom, has published the results of a wireless GPS survey. Among other findings the study reports that:

84 percent of respondents expressed interest in “child locator” services that would show a detailed route to where their child is currently, and 47 percent expressed interest in “friend locator” services.

A healthy willingness for subscribers to pay for such services: Approximately 74 percent of respondents with a minor child indicated an acceptance of monthly fees for “child locator” offerings, and nearly 40 percent of respondents indicated wiliness to pay for “friend locator” offerings. Of note, respondents expressed heightened interest for such offerings if provided via ad-sponsored models.

GPS Business News points out the great discrepancy between what people say and what they do, noting that the adoption rate for child tracking services is very low, despite the availability of such offerings.

GPS detectors, jammers and spoofers

Rich — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:12:15 +0000

Susan Brenner, a law professor specializing in cybercrime, has posted an article on GPS detectors, jammers and spoofers on her blog CYB3RCRIM3. It takes a while before she gets to the meat of it, but it’s a worthwhile read.

Along the way, she compares and contrasts state and federal treatment of radar detectors, how these devices could be used by criminals, the ability of government to outlaw tools that can be used in committing a crime, and public safety hazards associated with use of these devices.

Some basic points:

GPS detectors

It is not technically possible to detect a GPS receiver, only those devices which transmit your position.

GPS jamming devices

Apparently, these are not illegal in the U.S., though Ms. Brenner makes a case that they can (and should be) made illegal.

GPS spoofers

She also feels that spoofers, devices which can cause false location information to be received and therefore transmitted, also warrant outlawing.

GPS tracking in school uniforms

Rich — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:17:49 +0000

From the UK comes news that Trutex, the country’s largest seller of school uniforms, is considering incorporating GPS tracking in future product lines. From Gizmodo UK:

According to its survey, 44% of parents want to tag their children with GPS tracking devices while almost 60% would be pay for GPS devices that are incorporated into the school uniform.

Interestingly, 39% of kids from 9-12 years old want to be tagged, saying they feel safer if their parents know where they are. Unsurprisingly, kids aged over 13 were less keen on Mom and Pop knowing their whereabouts.

Totally unsurprising to me, considering that there are Brits that want to inject their kids with a GPS tracking chip, and that commenters here overwhelmingly favor it.

GPS jamming device

Rich — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:13:53 +0000

Is someone snooping on you? Maybe you’re just paranoid; then again, maybe not. Well Chinavasion (no, I’m not making that name up) has a forthcoming GPS jamming device on their website that claims to be able to block signals over a range of 2 to 4 meters. Theoretically, that is enough to effectively eliminate the tracking threat. No word on availability, pricing or legality in the U.S.!

Via Navigadget.

Mercedes-Benz ignores two court orders to track hit and run driver before complying

Rich — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:38:13 +0000

Last Tuesday night, 24-year-old Elizabeth Sandoval was killed by a hit and run driver in Glendale, California. Thanks to witness descriptions, the car and license tag were identified. Last Friday, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams…

…admonished Mercedes-Benz of North America for refusing to comply with a court order to activate the car’s standard Global Positioning System so that authorities might pinpoint the sedan’s exact location.

“It’s one of the most frustrating thing in my 35 years of law enforcement,” he told reporters.

A court order police obtained at 2:30 p.m. Friday was faxed to Mercedes-Benz North American headquarters in New Jersey and to the company that provides the global positioning satellite service, Irving, Texas-based Tele-Aid.

A second court order was rebuffed as well before Mercedes-Benz of North America complied. The car was recovered (but not the suspect) only after Mercedes complied with the court orders. Perhaps a more timely response would have yielded the suspect as well.

It makes you wonder what kind of policy companies have on releasing GPS tracking information to law enforcement officials. Personally, I am amazed that they refused to comply.

Via Digg.

UPDATE: A couple of submitted (but unpublished) comments caused me to publish a comment policy.

7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals okays surreptitious GPS tracking by police

Maryland bill proposes GPS tracking of truant students

Rich — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:01:09 +0000

Wow. I’m a fan of GPS tracking, but maybe this is going too far. A legislator in Maryland has proposed GPS monitoring for truant students — repeat offenders anyway.

Maryland Delegate Doyle Niemann (D-Prince George’s Co.) says it’s not enough to simply hold parents accountable when their children don’t show up for school.

“They’re not in control of their children. They take them to school, the kid walks in the front door and then out the back door. It doesn’t make any sense to continue to beat on the parents,” he says.

Meanwhile, Japan is going gaga over GPS tracking of kiddies — to the tune of $212 million. Via Digg.

7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals okays surreptitious GPS tracking by police

Rich — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:32:57 +0000

On February 2, the 7th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, ruled against a defendant who claimed that the surreptitious placement of a GPS tracking device amounted to an unconstitutional search. From the court’s decision:

The police had not obtained a warrant authorizing them to place the GPS tracker on the defendant’s car. The district judge, however, found that they had had a reasonable suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity, and she ruled that reasonable suspicion was all they needed for a lawful search, although she added that they had had probable cause as well. The
defendant argues that they needed not only probable cause to believe that the search would turn up contraband or evidence of crime, but also a warrant. The government argues that they needed nothing because there was no search or seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

So the gist of it comes down to this. The fourth amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure, but the judges ruled that the placement of a GPS tracking device without the suspect’s knowledge, does not qualify as a search of his car.

This is the first time the seventh circuit has weighed in on this issue, which other circuits have split on. The court equated GPS tracking to police physically following a car, or monitoring safety cameras to follow a car, neither of which amounts to illegal search and seizure.

The court did note that wholesale surveillance of the entire population is another matter entirely.

Finally, I did chuckle at this and wonder if the judges really believe that Google Earth allows real time tracking:

But if police follow a car around, or observe its route by means of cameras mounted on lampposts or of
satellite imaging as in Google Earth, there is no search.
Read the full court decision on surreptitious GPS tracking (Case number 06-2741 : USA v. Garcia, Bernardo).

Related post: Does GPS tracking by police amount to an illegal search?

Interested in GPS? Check out our other site, GPS Tracklog, for GPS reviews, news, tips and tricks.

Fresno police use GPS tracking to battle drunk drivers

Rich — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 19:37:22 +0000

Fresno, California police are using GPS to battle drunk drivers:

…they are covertly planting Global Positioning System devices on the cars of convicted drunken drivers to monitor whether they are going to bars or liquor stores in violation of their probation or parole.

They are using other high-tech equipment as well, including night-vision goggles. Police say that the surreptitious placement of GPS tracking devices is permitted under parole and probation terms, but the ACLU says they are over reaching.

The GPS tracking is actually part of an aggressive program started four years ago that includes police watching and waiting outside bars and weeknight DUI checkpoints.

Technorati tag: GPS tracking

GPS tracking of employees can cut costs and increase sales

Rich — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 09:23:19 +0000

An interesting article has shown up at the DenverPost.com, about GPS tracking of employees. According to Larry Overley, president of Landtech Contractors, a landscape company:

“It cuts down on guys leaving the job site. It helps us with our payroll costs because guys can’t fudge on their time sheet. We know when they get to the job, and we know when they leave the job,” he said.

The system, in use for six years, cut labor costs at the Aurora-based commercial landscaping company by about 3 percent in the first year.

Another company has seen increased sales as a result of GPS tracking:

Plumbing company Roto-Rooter, which has 1,500 service technicians throughout the country, started providing techs with GPS-equipped cellphones more than a year ago, said Steve Poppe, the company’s Cincinnati based chief information officer. Roto-Rooter technicians in Denver will be getting the phones in 2007.

The system is now used by about 390 of the employees in a number of cities. It assures the closest person to a customer who has called is the one dispatched. Drivers can also use it to find the location.

Many Roto-Rooter employees work on commission and don’t get paid when they are driving to and from a call, Poppe said. The system helps them maximize their pay.

Roto-Rooter’s GPS system is linked to mobile printers used to generate invoices at client sites.

When a technician begins generating an invoice, the system notifies the dispatch center.

The high-tech dispatch system has resulted in a 20 percent increase in service calls.

Privacy concerns are mentioned in the article, including this important reminder:

The issue gets particularly thorny when the person being tracked can’t turn off the GPS device at the end of the day, said Philip Gordon, chairman of the privacy practice group at the Denver law office of Littler Mendelson.

“There might one day be a claim that the tracking is so pervasive that it was something like stalking, but there is no case law so far advancing that theory,” Gordon said.

Both he and Orvis advise employers who plan to track their workers to let them know they are doing it, to tell them the reasons and to be sure that it doesn’t go on after work.

Technorati tag: GPS tracking

GPS cell phone tracking meets social networking

Rich — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 23:55:50 +0000

Earlier this week, Loopt announced a partnership with Sprint Nextel’s Boost Mobile to offer a social networking service on GPS cell phones. According to the companies, this is:

…the first-of-a-kind location-based social mapping service that enables young mobile phone users to share their location, status messages, photos and other on-the-go experiences with friends from their Boost Mobile phone. Unlike other social location services, Boost loopt, available to all Boost users on November 20, automatically updates the location of everyone in a private network of Boost customers and displays that information directly on a map on the phone. Boost loopt even sends an alert when a friend in the network is near, putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town.

Technorati tags: GPS tracking