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July 19, 2008 | 90°F Clear sky

The Brian Lehrer Show

Where Are You?

New cell phone technology incorporates GPS to read your location, telling friends where you are. But who else has access to that same information? We discuss cell phone technology and privacy issues with Wilson Rothman, technology writer and features editor at Gizmodo and Kevin Bankston, Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.


Listener Comments Comment | Refresh | Back to Episode
[1]
Posted by: Josh
April 14, 2008 - 09:04AM
NJ

Ha ha! Just spent the last 20 minutes looking for the wife's cell phone -- ability to track our cells' locations (in contrast to our own) would add enough time to the month to learn Farsi. I only ask that to the cell phone they design in a keyring (hope that Nokia design dude profiled in recent NYT reads this!).

[2]
Posted by: Anonymous
April 14, 2008 - 10:18AM
NY

I'd like the option to secretly add GPS tracking for my teenage daughters' phones...It'd be a nice alternative to the microchip implant.

[3]
Posted by: a woman
April 14, 2008 - 10:43AM
manhattan

I don't care who knows where I am. Come and get me, at your own risk! Ha ha. But seriously, if people are dumb enough to check up on me, let them think what they will. I'm a grown-up and answer to nobody who thinks I'm not where I should be.

[4]
Posted by: Rory Bernstein
April 14, 2008 - 10:47AM
Brooklyn, NY

I think that in general people are overly fearful about the privacy of their information. How many times have you called your friend's answering machine to get a message (in their voice) that deliberately does not mention their own names, for fear that someone will harm them by knowing who lives at that number. I'm so sick of this and of similar paranoid attitudes about information. Of course, any technology can and will be used for harm by a small number of people, but overall new technologies are good and help us. I can imagine catching criminals using GPS technology, finding people who are missing, etc. Bring on the GPS phones.

[5]
Posted by: Joe Corrao
April 14, 2008 - 10:50AM
Brooklyn

Go ahead tell us how wondering having phones as GPS devices...its the beginning of the end...its 1984 people (and has been)...

[6]
Posted by: Sean Pisano
April 14, 2008 - 10:51AM
Brooklyn

Here is the problem if you can see it so can everyone else. Including the "bad people".

[7]
Posted by: James Brownski
April 14, 2008 - 10:52AM

This is why I turn my phone off and remove the battery when I have no intention of using it.

[8]
Posted by: mike
April 14, 2008 - 10:53AM

If you're a parent who wants to track your kid, the reasons for that desire need to be fully explored, perhaps its because you feel you haven't taught them well enough to handle themselves appropriately, or maybe you just think that everyone is out to get them. This discussion has many similarities to the lady who caught flack for letting her son ride the subway on his own ( the horror! ). You've got to let the little birdies fly on their own at some point.

[9]
Posted by: Katie
April 14, 2008 - 10:54AM
Forest Hills

What is probable cause? I have never heard of that. Can someone please explain what they mean by that?

[10]
Posted by: Joe Corrao
April 14, 2008 - 10:55AM
Brooklyn

not wondering... wonderful I meant...point is we have given up all our rights as long as we get our ipods...and the caller that talks about the NWO is right on..

[11]
Posted by: sy
April 14, 2008 - 10:56AM
nyc

will it be possible to switch the gps option of and off? this can solve much of the privacy problem.

[12]
Posted by: Anne
April 14, 2008 - 10:57AM
Midtown Manhattan

If I'm traveling and my phone knew where I was, it would be nice to get text messages about where I'm at - like a digital guided tour of where I'm at.

[13]
Posted by: Beezy
April 14, 2008 - 10:58AM
NYC

I was thinking this an NWO issue too.

People should at least look at the topic

even if they are skeptical.

[14]
Posted by: Mike
April 14, 2008 - 10:58AM
Philadelphia, PA

I think the previous caller was referring to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) - www.spp.gov

This is essentially an addition to NAFTA that creates an unelected body that has power over the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Please do a show on this!

[15]
Posted by: Tasneem
April 14, 2008 - 10:59AM
Long island

For the person looking for his wife's phone, You can always call your cell phone to find it!! I do that all the time!

[16]
Posted by: Joe
April 14, 2008 - 11:01AM

How do the presidential candidates stack up on electronic privacy?

[17]
Posted by: Joe
April 14, 2008 - 11:02AM

I'd like to be believe that Obama would be more progressive on this issue, but I don't really know.

[18]
Posted by: Joe
April 14, 2008 - 11:03AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probable_cause

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