Is OnStar turning your car against you? Senator Schumer thinks so. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0926/Is-OnStar-turning-your-car-against-you-Senator- Schumer-thinks-so

Senator Schumer of New York criticizes in-vehicle emergency tool OnStar because it collects information about its users even after they cancel the service. It's the latest flareup over whether new technologies are violating users' privacy rights.

OnStar, the in-vehicle emergency service, is the latest technology coming under fire from privacy advocates who say it is unfairly conducing surveillance on its users without their permission.

Several US senators, led by Charles Schumer (D) of New York, are asking the company to abandon the practice, which he and others say is becoming pervasive. Senator Schumer is also asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate OnStar following the company’s announcement last week that it will continue to track the movement and speed of users even after they cancel the service, which is available by subscription.

Apple, , and Google have also come under fire this year over concerns about unwanted surveillance. The problems are the product of technological advancements that have outpaced privacy regulations, say analysts, with OnStar offering further evidence of how companies can collect data about their customers.

ALSO SEE: The 10 weirdest uses for a smartphone

OnStar is owned by General Motors and, according to the company, is available in 40 2011 model vehicles. More than 6 million people have the service, the company says.

In a letter sent to OnStar's president, Linda Marshall, Schumer called the policy a “brazen invasion,” particularly because the company acknowledges it will maintain a connection with the user’s vehicle even after the user opts out of the service.

OnStar’s two-way location technology is marketed for its safety benefits: helping locate roadside services, provide alternate driving instructions, and sending help in case of an emergency. A spokesperson for the service did not respond by deadline to requests via e-mail and phone for comment.

Other companies have been criticized for not telling users if and how they collect personal data. For those that do, the warnings are sometimes in small print, critics say.

In April, for example, independent researchers said Apple and Google store the location history of iPhone and Android users, respectively. Both companies denied the charge.

Privacy advocates say the challenge is that embedding mobile software that protects user data is more costly. Companies failed to prioritize these kinds of protections when web browsers, smart phones, and digital tablets were being designed. That means mitigating the problem after the fact would involve changes far beyond amending user agreements. It would require redesigning the core structure of the technology.

“All these amazing new technologies ... were not designed to go the extra mile and work in a privacy friendly way. In fact, it’s often much more convenient to collect more information about where the device is and where it is going than to collect less,” says Peter Eckersley, technology projects director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

Much of the problem has to do with global-positioning software (GPS) that companies use to create a two- way communication with consumers. On one hand, it helps provide street directions or tell users where they are at any given moment. On the other hand, personal data on shopping habits or browser search history can also be stored without the user’s knowledge.

Companies like Facebook argue that tracking these data helps the company tailor the user’s online experience, directing the user to content of interest. But privacy advocates like Mr. Eckersley say companies are really interested in building data banks they can sell or use as leverage in partnerships with outside media partners.

“There’s no question that industry views this giant network of surveillance devices as a great commercial opportunity,” he says. The danger, he says, is that the information may “accidentally” be accessed by people – including the government, Internet stalkers, or hackers – who can have more nefarious intentions.

Regulation remains far on the horizon. There is no federal law that explicitly inhibits companies from using location tracking of its users.

One reason is the speed at which technology is moving, says Chenxi Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research in Foster City, Calif. “The privacy laws and regulations have not caught up with the technology,” she says.

But the spread of smartphones and tablets could create pressure for reform. Forrester Research forecasts that one in every three adults in the US will own a tablet by 2015. “Consumers are more aware of the [privacy] issue now, but whether they are turned off by the location tracking still remains to be seen,” says Ms. Wang.

For now, consumers concerned about privacy have to opt out of the digital realm or invest in software that blocks data storage. Neither, however, is likely to be a adequate solution, says Eckersley, who says a more realistic answer will come only from within the industry itself.

“We need to put pressure on what we want to see regarding privacy regulation. That is going to create better incentives for the industry to do the extra engineering legwork that is required to give us these cool new features based on what we’re doing in a way that doesn’t keep a record of where we were and what we do and what we read,” he says.

So, if your iPhone is spying on you, who benefits? http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0422/So-if-your-iPhone-is-spying-on-you-who-benefits

Reports that and Android phones track the owners' movements have revived privacy concerns. The list of who wants the data – from police to marketers – is potentially a long one.

News that certain manufacturers have embedded technology in their devices that tracks owners' movements has raised alarms among privacy rights advocates even though it has been somewhat of an open secret since last year.

The controversy flared up this week when technology bloggers started commenting on a report by two security technology researchers that was presented at a conference in Santa Clara, Calif.

Alasdair Allan, a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter, and Pete Warden, founder of Data Science Toolkit, an open-source software website, reported that starting a year ago, when Apple updated its mobile operating system, the iPhone and the 3G version of the iPad started storing user location data.

How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.

The data are collected whenever the device connects with cell-phone towers or Wi-Fi networks. The collected data becomes vulnerable to hackers if the device is later synced to a computer.

“We’re not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it's clearly intentional,” Mr. Allan and Mr. Warden wrote on their website.

Apple has not yet commented publicly on the issue. A call to an Apple spokesperson representing the company’s iPhone division was not returned at press time.

Android reportedly collecting data, too

It is also becoming clear that concern over the tracking software is not limited to Apple devices. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google has also been collecting location data from users of its Android OS system, although on a more limited basis than Apple.

Speculation varies about why the manufacturers are allowing their devices to log the users’ physical coordinates. One theory is that advertisers would benefit from knowing what locations users frequent most and in what pattern, in order to target marketing messages their way.

Many companies already offer training to computer forensic experts at law enforcement agencies on extracting location data from mobile devices and software, to help them track suspects in criminal cases.

One such company, Micro Systemation, located in Solna, Sweden, posted on its website Thursday that “the findings … will come as a surprise to most iPhone users, as their devices do not give any visual indication that such data is being recorded. But they are no surprise to the developers here at [the company] who have been recovering this data … for some considerable time.” The company offers a course on “iPhone Forensics” it says will teach participants “how to recover stored and deleted data.” According to its website, it is targeted to “law enforcement,” “military intelligence operatives,” and “corporate fraud investigators,” among others.

Privacy trade-offs

The revelation about the phone systems is part of a larger trend regarding mobile devices and privacy, says Catherine Crump, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City.

“This is not just about Apple,” she says, “it’s about the broader question about how electronic devices have become integrated in our daily lives. That’s fantastic, but at the same time, it’s a new reality for the rest of us who didn’t grow up with them and are struggling to understand what the privacy trade-offs are in using them.”

Ms. Crump adds that even though “we’ve all become heavily reliant” on the devices, it is becoming evident they are designed to “collect or share new information in ways that we don’t’ completely understand.”

What happens next is likely government scrutiny. Several members of Congress have already sent letters to Apple. Sen. Al Franken (D) of Minnesota wrote that “anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user’s home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken.”

Consent by users

Last July Apple responded to an inquiry from Reps. Ed Markey (D) of Massachusetts and Joe Barton (R) of Texas with a letter stating that the “latitude and longitude coordinates are not kept or otherwise associated with an individual,” an assertion contradicted by the research findings this week.

The company also wrote that “by using any location-based services on your iPhone,” users “agree and consent to Apple’s and its partners’ and licensees’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing and use of your location data to provide products and services.”

Jacqui Cheng, the senior Apple editor at Ars Technica, a technology news website, says the revelations this week will not likely affect sales of either the Apple or Google devices, however she does predict that, in the case of Apple, a software fix will likely take place.

“They might change so it only tracks recent [physical movements], but I can’t see [Apple] getting rid of it altogether because they use the data to improve location tracking to figure out where the Wi-Fi hotspots are,” she says.

iPhone tracking: Why does Apple keep tabs on you? http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0421/iPhone-tracking-Why-does-Apple- keep-tabs-on-you iPhone tracking shows everywhere you've been. Why would Apple save this information? (iPhone tracking automatically creates a file of everywhere your phone has traveled.)

By Sid Yadav, Venture Beat / April 21, 2011

Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have long been storing positions and timestamps in a hidden file on the user’s computer. That’s according to developers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who reported their finding at the Where 2.0 conference Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.

Allan stumbled on the discovery while looking through iTunes’ backup files on his computer. Author of the book “Learning iPhone Programming” for O’Reilly Media, Allan came across “consolidated.db”, a backup file updated whenever a user syncs their iPhone or iPad with iTunes. Sequenced in a simple database, the file contained thousands of regularly gathered datapoints of the user’s latitude-longitude coordinates and timestamps, which for some phones have dated back to as much as a year.

While Allan and Warden suggest there is no immediate privacy concern from the data, they question why Apple is storing it, and why it is kept unencrypted and relatively accessible. In a blog post about the finding, they recommended iPhone and iPad users encrypt their backups through Apple’s media management software, iTunes.

The duo have also released “iPhone Tracker”, an application for the Mac that reads the backup file and projects a map visualization of the stored data. Trying out the application, I could see close to every location I’ve been to in the past year — which is particularly alarming.

“Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information on where you’ve been,” Warden told The Guardian. The company has yet to comment on the discovery.

PCWorld has an interesting theory: "Wondering why your iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad are storing your general location in an easily accessible database on your PC? It's simple. Apple uses this information to build a cell tower and Wi-Fi access point location database."

In the video below, the pair discuss the finding and its implications.

“iPhone Tracking Discussion” OReillyMedia, YouTube

Cellphone tracking services: Friend finder or Big Brother? http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech-Culture/2009/0501/cellphone-tracking-services-friend-finder- or-big-brother

Mobile location tracking lets you see where your friends are. But what about privacy?

By Michael B. Farrell, Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor / May 1, 2009

Where r u? That text message, says Sam Altman, was so common that he wanted to find a way to answer it – for everyone.

As a sophomore in computer science at Stanford University, Mr. Altman imagined a way that mobile phone users could seamlessly check their friends’ whereabouts with location-tracking technology. But back in 2005, global positioning system (GPS) hadn’t arrived in smart phones.

Technology soon caught up with the idea. Today his company, Loopt, has more than 1 million users and is one of the most popular services to allow people to track their friends via their smart phones. And with more cellphones now equipped with GPS, other services such as Google Latitude are collecting location data from scores of users and broadcasting that information through phone networks or the Internet.

Such tracking services offer a great way for people stay connected – and can be a boon for parents – but their proliferation also has privacy advocates biting their nails. As companies forge into largely uncharted areas of tracking and recording customer locations, many worry that consumers won’t be able to ensure that their private information – such as their whereabouts on a given day – is being safeguarded, especially from advertisers.

“How are we going to get all the benefits that come from doing geo-location without sacrificing people’s privacy?” asks Lauren Gelman, executive director of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society (CIS).

Ms. Gelman and other privacy experts caution that when users allow companies to track their locations, third parties – such as the government, litigants, and advertisers – can potentially tap into that data. “If you have the information, someone is going to come asking for it.”

In other words, could your iPhone or BlackBerry be used to spy on you? Will your spouse or employer know where you are even when you don't want them to?

Who’s in the Loopt?

As Loopt and Google are moving forward in the realm of geosocial or mobile social networking, companies such as NearbyNow and Placecast are exploring ways that advertisers could potentially exploit growing databases of location-specific information (imagine, for instance, getting a coupon for pizza on your mobile phone after walking by a pizzeria).

Altman stresses that Loopt puts a premium on customer privacy and doesn't sell the information to advertisers. It does, however, post ads on its service based on location. Its privacy policy states: “Loopt discloses some personally identifiable, registration, profile, or location information to subsidiaries, affiliated companies, or other businesses or persons for the purpose of providing certain features of the Loopt Services, in order to serve relevant advertisements in support of the Loopt Services, and for processing such information on our behalf.”

When it comes to safety, Loopt gives users control over when to reveal their location and who gets to see it. It also gives them the ability to alter or remove it at any time. While Loopt is built to let people meet up with friends who happen to be nearby, it has a public option in which users reveal their location to a broader group.

The intent of this option, called Loopt Mix, is to allow users to meet other service subscribers in real life.

Loopt advises caution when using this feature: “When meeting up with another Mix user, always meet in a public space with people around. Bring a friend or at least let a friend know where you're going.”

What happens if the service is abused? Altman says the community of Loopt users has proven to be a reliable watchdog. Several users suspected of illicit activity have been reported and kicked off the service, he says.

Services that keep tabs on your every move do seem a bit “creepy,” admits Ryan Calo, a residential fellow at CIS and an expert on electronic privacy issues. But, he says, while they could potentially lead to some criminal wrongdoing, he doesn't think “location based services are going to play into that dynamic.... [I]n the bulk of cases, this tool is going to be used by people who already have a relationship to augment that relationship.”

Some tracking services, for example, allow family members keep track of each other or parents to keep an eye on their children.

Much of what's driving the growth of mobile social networking or geo-locating services, says Mr. Calo, is the fact that "location data is really salient. It really matters to an individual to find things around them and really matters to advertisers to connect with people.”

Laws lag behind

Congress is taking interest in the growth in mobile tracking – and the growth in all sorts of data tracking that’s happening online – and what it means for consumer privacy. At a hearing on communication networks and consumer privacy last week, Loopt chief operating officer Brian Knapp was asked whether the federal government should begin regulating how companies use the private data collected by internet service providers and other companies that gather location information.

“A high-level privacy framework that sticks by tried-and-true principles would be beneficial,” Mr. Knapp told the House panel. But he added that he had concerns that laws could also get “focused on a snapshot in a moment in time and may get outdated.”

“The laws are always years behind technology, says Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “These location-tracking services have been available since about 2005 and the laws haven’t caught up with the technology.”

The most important thing, he says, is for new users to be fully informed of the potential consequences when they opt for mobile tracking services. But, “typically they aren’t.”

Homeland Security wants to turn your cell phone into a smell phone http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0520/Homeland-Security-wants-to-turn-your-cell-phone-into-a- smell-phone

Researchers at the University of , San Diego have developed a porous silicon chip that can sniff out airborne chemicals. The US Department of Homeland Security says this could revolutionize protection against chemical weapon terror attacks.

Who needs a bloodhound – or even a nose?

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is hoping that soon your cell phone will sniff out poisonous gases. It’s funding three companies to create a small chip – about the size of a dime – that would sit inside of cell phones and alert users to potentially deadly smells.

Michael Sailor, whose research team at the University of California, San Diego works for Rhevision Technology, Inc. to create the chip, says the chips are most useful for first responders or other emergency workers. Firefighters and police could track the location of, say, a noxious cloud in a subway, by monitoring GPS signals from the passengers’ cell phones. They could then use the information to better coordinate a response. “It’s a laudable goal when you think of it like that,” Sailor said.

The technology is similar to that of a computer chip. Scientists start with a silicon wafer, which they fill with billions of nano-sized holes that reflect different colors depending on their size. If poisonous gas molecule such as sarin enters the hole, it displaces the air inside it, and causes the color that the hole reflects to change.

Tiny lenses affixed to a cell phone's camera can be used to monitor these color changes. If the lenses spot a color that is related to poison, they will trigger an alert system on the cell phone. Sailor’s team is a sub- contractor to Rhevision, a startup in San Diego that invented the miniature tunable camera lens, which makes the lenses. So far the chips have successfully detected sarin gas, methyl salicylate – a compound used to simulate mustard gas – and toluene, a gasoline additive, among others.

The DHS's science and technology division is also funding similar projects at NASA and Qualcomm. Stephen Dennis, Project Manager for the Science & Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, says the mission of the DHS – to protect the homeland – can be revolutionized with the help of the cell phone.

“It’s the most ubiquitous that you could possibly make chemical sensing,” Dennis told TechNewsDaily. To be sure, there are several hurdles to this goal. For example, many cell phone companies are leery of more features being added on to an already packed gadget, Sailor said.

And what about the price? Right now the chips cost about a quarter to make. In volume that would drop to approximately a few cents, but cell phone companies are always fighting for lower price points. And then there’s the consumer, who may be suspicious of a device that’s capable of tracking their location.

As a next step, the DHS hopes to have 40-80 different prototypes within 18 months, which will be installed in new phones. The prototypes will focus on building a network system that would piggyback on networks that emergency response services already use.