Getting consumers' consent to sell cellphone tracking data

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Hi,

The Baltimore Sun and New York Times recently ran articles about the State
of Maryland getting ready to roll out a traffic flow monitoring system which
works by tracking the position of cellphones which are being carried in
cars.  The Baltimore Sun article is still online at this URL:

   Cell phone data tracing traffic in Md.
   System 'watches' vehicles, raises fears about privacy 
   http://tinyurl.com/7we6q

Virginia and Missouri are also about ready to test similar systems.

I want to see a requirement put into place that wireless companies must get
a customer's written consent before any of  their cellphone position data is
turned over to a third-party for any uses not related to making cellphone
calls.

I recent contacted the Maryland Highway Department and requested a copy of
the contract for the system.  The contract is now online as a Word document
file on my Web site:

   http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/mdotcontract.doc

I haven't had time to review the contract yet, but I did see that the funds
for this Maryland project are coming from the Federal Highway Administration
(http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/).  Perhaps the FHWA are the folks who should be
requiring consumers to provide consent to have their cellphone position data
sold to other companies.

Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com



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