This Columbia University computer science professor has decided to get into the “big brothe” act and has co-founded a New York-based company named Sense Networks to (you guessed it) sell tracking software to other companies.
His company is also distributing a free version of the software, called Citysense, that shows on your cell phone a map of where the “happening” places are based on collecting data from GPS equipped cabs, phones, and a whole range of other devices that have a handy dandy GPS system incorporated into it.
It does a bunch of number crunching and tells you where it is that people are gathering in your area. The thing is available in San Fransisco and will soon be in Chicago and five other major US cities.
Hmpth.. sounds like it’s time to make sure that your phone doesn’t have a GPS chip in it. If it does, start learning how to turn it OFF without disabling the phone. Remember this though. Just because something stops making noise and goes dark, doesn’t mean is is actually OFF. Cell Phones for example, can be turned on remotely and used as an open mic for surveillance situations without the owner of the phone having any idea that it’s been done.
Technorati Tags: privacy, gps, tracking, phones, cell phones
If you like A Peculiar Blog, Consider subscribing to my RSS feed