Paper Info
Title
Privacy Implications of Automated GPS Tracking and Profiling
Abstract
Recent advancements in GPS technology have opened new avenues for its use in the automotive sector. While GPS is a self-positioning system and does not threaten locational privacy , its availability in telematics systems enables various privacy abuses both in real-time and retrospect. GPS devices are being used for surreptitious monitoring, for providing alibis and more recently, by the government to access telematics-generated GPS data for complementing their mass surveillance projects. While researchers have presented theoretical studies of privacy abuses and their countermeasures, limited research has been conducted to assess these threats in a real-life scenario involving data obtained from people. This paper aims to raise awareness about privacy issues created as a result of GPS-based surveillance by conducting an experiment involving collecting positional data from a number of volunteers. A software protocol is implemented which takes this GPS data as input and produces profiles of road behaviour, social activities and work activities of the volunteers. Interviews are conducted with the volunteers to assess the accuracy of this profiling. Results suggest that while these profiles can be highly predictive of personality traits, they may also be misleading due to technical limitations and inaccuracies. Positional data is highly detailed and it is important to negotiate the function, storage and use of such data so that future telematics systems do not impinge upon privacy rights of motorists.
Year
DOI
Venue
2010
10.1109/MTS.2010.937031
IEEE Technol. Soc. Mag.
Keywords
Field
DocType
Global Positioning System,computerised navigation,data privacy,surveillance,GPS based surveillance,GPS vehicle navigation,automated GPS tracking,computer based systems,electronic system,personal information,positional data,privacy issues,smart car revolution,software protocol,value-added services
Electronic toll collection,Profiling (computer programming),Computer security,GPS tracking server,Software,Electronic systems,Global Positioning System,Personally identifiable information,Engineering,Information privacy
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
29
2
0278-0097
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
5
0.63
3
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Muhammad Usman Iqbal150.96
Samsung Lim26812.02