[Sigia-l] Uncle Sam pointing his IA finger at you

[InfoArchitect]

Hey all,

Ziya wrote:
> I figure there'll be a whole of searchin' going on soon.

There's a whole lot of trackin' going on in at least one small 
European country right now.  I have some friends from Estonia, a small 
country made popular in statistics by its record of "most mobile 
phones per capita in Europe".  These guys take delight in being able 
to tell exactly where their girlfriends are at any time.  You see, a 
Mobile Positioning Service (MPS) was launched in Estonia that allows 
the general public to track any mobile phone via tower triangulation 
(once given a password by the person in question).  

This service was provided under a number of 'warm' guises (eg. "know 
that your children are safe"), but is not only being used in non-
disclosed ways by officials (eg. "We have had a couple of cases of 
criminal investigations where a court has admitted it [as evidence] 
for tracking a mobile phone."), but in new, inventive ways by the 
common citizens of Estonia.  

Estonians also are statistically significant for their rate of car 
theft, so somebody has invented an attachment to cheap mobile phones 
that you can keep hidden in your car.  Simply arm the 'hidden phone' 
and if the car starts before being disarmed, the phone makes a call to 
your 'real' mobile phone.  You can then track exactly where the car is 
and tell the police where they may pick up the suspects.

PC World produced an article on MPS if anyone is interested:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,33862,00.asp

Of course, these facilities are also theoretically available for any 
mobile phone telecommunications company.  Is Big Brother already 
watching? ;)
 
Best regards,

Ash Donaldson
User Experience Designer

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