CDR: SprintUs plan to use chips to track cell phones stirs privacy concerns

[An Metet]

Some worry that information could get into the wrong hands

By Nicole Harris
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

J 	J 	Nov. 10 Q JSprint Corp.Us wireless division said it will put global-positioning-system chips in its cell phones to locate its users, stirring up hot-button privacy concerns that the popular consumer items could become homing devices. The national wireless carrier is making the move Q starting the middle of next year Q to fulfill a federal mandate that all wireless service providers be able to pinpoint the location of a wireless 911 call within 100 feet by October 2001.	J 

	J J J JTHE AIM IS to solve a problem that has frustrated cell-phone users and safety officials alike: There is no way to determine quickly the exact origin of a wireless 911 call.
J J J JThursday marked the deadline for the nationUs carriers to report to the Federal Communications Commission just how they would meet the mandate. Cell-phone operators can opt to install tracking software in their wireless networks, have phones include a chip with GPS technology, or a combination of the two. In a filing with the FCC, Verizon Wireless, the nationUs largest carrier, said it planned to use a network-based solution to meet the mandate.
J J J JOnce the cell-phone companies get the technology in place, a host of so-called location-based services are sure to follow. In fact, these offerings such as printed driving directions, or say, finding the closest Burger King, are at the center of the wireless industryUs next big hope: the wireless Internet. 	
	
J J J JBut privacy advocates warn there are too many risks that the data could wind up in the wrong hands, as well as several unanswered questions regarding how consumers will be notified about the use of the information, and how carriers will collect and store the data. While the carriers say they will be the only ones with the ability to track calls, the concern is that the information could get into the wrong hands because the tracking device will be leaving a trail of electronic footprints. 	

		J J J JRThe thing that worries me is that your phone could become a tracking device,S said Kurt Wimmer, an attorney that follows privacy issues for the London offices of Covington & Burling.
J J J JThat could be a particular concern for carriers that decide to go with a GPS-technology solution. That is because the FCC requires 67% of position-enabled handsets must be locatable to within 50 meters, or 55 yards, giving a more-exact location. Under controlled trial conditions earlier this year, Sprint was able to locate this percentage of test calls to less than 30 meters.
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Other experts are concerned about consumersU right to choose if they even want such location data to be generated. RThe consumer has to have some rights as to how the information is collected and how itUs used,S said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. Mr. Sobel says he is preparing for a public session hosted by the Federal Trade Commission to be held in December on wireless location privacy issues.
J J J JStill, Oliver Valente, Sprint PCSUs chief technology officer, insists the Westwood, Kan., company will do its part to protect the privacy of its customers. He said Sprint is exploring ways to allow users to turn the 911 location-tracking device off at the push of a button, a feature that privacy experts such as Mr. Wimmer applaud.
J J J JRWe will make sure consumer information is protected,S said Mr. Valente, adding that phones with the new feature wonUt hit the market until the second half of next year.
J J J JBut Sprint already is dreaming up ways to say, offer consumer coupons to a local Pizza Hut, if the customer is in the vicinity of a restaurant. But Mr. Valente says Sprint wonUt give up the consumerUs location information to a third party. RWe could deliver the offer without the third party ever knowing where the consumer was and it would be totally opt in on the consumersU part.S