No Place to Hide The rollout of location-enabled cellular phones is to begin by October. The government's goal is to make it easier for emergency services to locate people. Location-tracking information gathered by businesses will likely be tantalizing to law enforcement officials.
Privacy issues loom.
As wireless is becoming more pervasive, it's ushering in a host of location-based services that could, for instance, let companies send advertisements to people as they approach a store. You need very significant personalization to have success in the wireless environment. The FTC is examining the privacy issues in advance of a federal law that will require police, fire departments and other emergency services to have the ability by October to locate people via their wireless handsets. The FTC, which has been urging Congress to set privacy standards for online commerce, hasn't taken a position on wireless mobile commerce. But the incoming Bush administration could have an impact on the FTC's emphasis on regulation.