New York Times: Operators continue to collect user location information

Introduction: The New York Times Network version of the Saturday article said that in recent years, many users use Google Foursquare and other geographical services to share their location.　　But Malte Spitz, Germany's Green Party politician, recently found that their location is being tracked, regardless of whether the Marte Spitz are willing. The following is the full text of the article: Mobile operators usually do not disclose which user information they collect.　　As a result, Spitz sought the help of the court to learn about the information collected by Deutsche Telekom about the location of the user. The results that Spitz had learned were appalling.　　During the 6-month period from August 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010, Deutsche Telekom recorded the latitude and longitude of Spitz at 35,000 times, including his trip to the southern German city of Erlangen and his home in Berlin. Privacy experts point out that Spitz's findings have led to an understanding of the previously unknown fact that a user's location is kept in record when they go out with their mobile phone.　　Unlike Internet services and websites that have to send cookies to users ' computers to record users ' online behavior, mobile operators simply wait to receive records. "We go out with small labels, we have phone numbers on our labels, phone calls, and what we do with our phones," says Sarah E. Williams, an expert on image information at Columbia University's School of Architecture, Sala Williams. We don't even know that we're handing over the data. "Mobile operators track the location of their users for their own benefit." Typically, every 7 seconds, the working phone detects where the nearest base station is, making the route more efficient when answering the phone.　　From a billing standpoint, operators also need to keep track of where users are calling, and how long the phone lasts. "At any one time, mobile operators need to know where you are," says Mashu Breze Matthew Blaze, a professor of computer and information science at Binsivania University. The handset continues to register with the strongest signal to the base station.　　He points out that the information that Spitz sees is not based on normal location updates, but on the operation of the electronic mailbox that Spitz checks. Spitz, a privacy supporter, decided to disclose all his personal information. At the end of last month, he publicly released all of his geographic information through Google Docs and worked with the German Times weekly website Zeit Online to mark the locations on the map by the time. "This is the most shocking visualization I've ever seen in a public forum," says Braz. Spitz spoke in an interview about why he did it. "It's important to let people know it's not a game," he says. I have also considered whether it would be a good idea to publish all this data. I can only publish 5 or 10 days of data, but I don't think it's appropriate, so I've released all 6 monthsAccording。 "In the United States, telecoms operators do not need to report which user information they collect," said Kevin Bankston, a Kevin Bankston lawyer. He also said that, according to past court cases, operators are collecting more and more user location information, and the location is more accurate. "Mobile phones are becoming a necessary part of modern life," he says. If you want to live in 21st century, then you have to surrender your personal privacy. "In the US, for law enforcement and national security reasons, mobile operators are encouraged to keep track of user locations," he said. Both the FBI and the Narcotics Control Board have used cell phone records to determine where the suspect is located and to initiate an arrest. If this information is of value to law enforcement, it will be equally appealing to marketers.　　Mainstream mobile operators in the United States have declined to disclose what data they specifically collected and the purpose of the data collection. Verizon, for example, declined to respond to the issue, referring only to the company's privacy policy.　　This privacy policy shows that information, including call logs, service usage, and data flow, may be used for marketing activities based on "User's use of the product and the services currently available, but subject to relevant legal restrictions". At&t is working with a company called Sense NX, which uses anonymous location information to "better understand the activities of a large number of people". The company's Citysense product offers local nightlife advice to users.　　However, most geographic applications today seek permission from users, using GPS rather than carrier records to determine user locations. For historical reasons, German courts tend to pay more attention to personal privacy. Spitz initially tried to obtain data for the year 2009 through the tribunal, but was rejected by Deutsche Telekom. In 6 months, he says, lawyers ' letters go back and forth like ping-pong balls. In the end, the German constitutional Court ruled that the current data retention provisions were illegal except for the purposes of fees and services. Soon after, the two sides reached a settlement agreement. "I've only got information about me, and I didn't get the phone number I dialed, and the messages that others texted me," said Spitz. Deutsche Telekom eventually provided 36,831 messages to Spitz in the form of encrypted documents. Deutsche Telekom said in Ane-mail that the company stores 6 months of data under the law.　　And after the court ruled, the company immediately stopped the act of storing data. 1 years after the court's decision, Germany is now raising a campaign to promote new legislation. Spitz said he had provided relevant material to try to influence the debate. "I want to prove that this data storage problem is very serious and you can learn about a person's 6 months of life, see what they've done and where they've been," he says. "Spitz thought, though it could be very accommodatingIt is easy to see how these data are being abused, but it is not clear to the outside world. "I spend most of my time in my neighborhood," he says. I don't go out very often. Data also show that I sometimes travel by air. "(Chu Yue)