Text Hotspots is a joint venture between mobile phone services
company Mobile Commerce and the celebrity gossip site
PeopleNews.com. Vodafone users will be able to text certain words
to a certain number and receive an SMS reply informing them of
nearby celebrity hang-outs, together with directions from their
current location.
The service includes an initial consent process to ensure that a
user's location information is only requested from the Vodafone
network in response to a valid service request. Also, Vodafone has
not yet implemented exact positioning. The current degree of
accuracy was not disclosed.
However, third generation (3G) mobile phones are expected to
offer almost automatic location tracking, provided that operators
adopt appropriate software for their networks. These technologies
will locate a handset to within a range of 15 metres.
Many companies are expected to use location data in order to
send targeted advertisements in the form of text messages to their
customers (for example, special offers to anyone walking past a
high-street store).
Privacy concerns have been raised by the combination of
legislation that provides for the retention communications data –
which includes location data – and legislation that provides for
access to such data. The concerns are not only those of individuals
and consumer groups. Telcos are faced with having to find a
difficult balance between protecting the privacy of their customers
under data protection laws and complying with new data retention
and access rules.
The provisions that oblige telcos to retain communications data
in the UK are found in the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act,
which was passed in December 2001. This law has not actually placed
an obligation on telcos to retain data; it only authorises the
Secretary of State to issue a voluntary code of practice. However,
the Act also gives the government the power to issue mandatory
directions, in the case that self-regulation is not successful. No
voluntary code has yet been published.
According to the Act, communications data should only be
retained for the purposes of prevention or detection of crime or
the prosecution of offences related to national security. Such data
can be obtained by law enforcement agencies without a court
order.
However, another piece of legislation, the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), gives a range of authorities the
right to access the retained data for various reasons (including
the assessment or collection of tax). A draft law to extend the
list of authorities was recently withdrawn.
On the other hand, telcos are already obliged to comply with the
provisions of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 which provides that
they should not retain personal data for longer than necessary. If
the retention of data under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security
Act is regulated by a voluntary code of practice, telcos might find
themselves in breach of the Data Protection Act. This is because a
voluntary code of practice is not a legal obligation.
