[Nettime-bold] another bad idea, imho

[Bill Spornitz <spornitz@pangea.ca>]

from edupage
http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html


USE OF LOCATION DEVICES RISES, PROMPTING PRIVACY CONCERNS
Location-based services could be the next big thing in the
wireless communications industry. International Data values the
segment at nearly $600 million today and projects that it will
soar to $5 billion over the course of the next three years.
Companies see enormous commercial potential in installing
wireless location systems in vehicles, handheld computers, cell
phones, and even watchbands. Restaurants hope to use the
technology to alert cell phone users when they approach that there
are available tables; stores plan to alert cell phone users of
sales; and hotels want to inform people that they have vacancies.
A company in Florida wants to use the technology to help parents
keep track of their children. Some researchers are ready to
imbed the technology, in the form of a chip, beneath the skin.
The federal government has played a major role in the development
of wireless tracking technology. The federal government wants to
use the technology to make it easier for local authorities to
determine the precise location of emergency 911 calls.
(New York Times, 4 March 2001)


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