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7) GPS Big Brother Article - "Car Spy Pushes Privacy Limit"
Here
is an interesting article spotted by the Navtech staff:
Car spy pushes privacy limit
By Robert Lemos
ZDNet News
June 19, 2001, 5:00 PM PT
Car renters beware: Big Brother may be riding shotgun.
In a case that could help set the bar for the amount of
privacy drivers of rental cars can expect, a Connecticut man is
suing a local rental company, Acme Rent-a-Car, after it used GPS
(Global Positioning System) technology to track him and then
fined him $450 for speeding three times.
The case underscores the ways that new technologies can
invade people's privacy, said Richard Smith, chief technologist
at the not-for-profit Privacy Foundation.
"Soon our cell phones will be tracking us," he
said. "GPS could be one more on the checklist here.
Frankly, giving out speeding tickets is the job of the police,
not of private industry."
Rental car companies have used GPS devices since the
mid-1990s, installing systems to give drivers directions while
they're on the road. "Fleet management" companies such
as AirIQ (http://www.airiq.com)
and Fleetrack are also selling newer tracking services that help
companies monitor their vehicles.
The New Haven Small Claims Court case pits New Haven resident
James Turner against Acme. Turner also filed a claim with the
Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.
Turner paid for the rental car with a debit card last fall
and, after returning the car, was shocked to find that an extra
$450 had been taken out of his account, according to an article
in the "New Haven Advocate," where the case was first
reported.
Turner could not be contacted for this article, and his
attorney did not return phone calls.
When Turner contested the charges, Acme was able to point out
on a map exactly where he exceeded the company's threshold speed
of 79 mph.
For Acme, however, the policy is not about penalizing
customers but about protecting its cars, said Max F. Brunswick,
the attorney representing the company.
Acme recently decided to equip its cars with GPS technology
and uses tracking services from AirIQ to find stolen rental cars
and charge customers for "dangerous" conduct. The
policy is stated in bold at the top of the rental agreement,
Brunswick said.
"You have a problem in rental cars that people don't
treat them like their own cars," Brunswick said. "The
main reason to put in the GPS receivers is not to track the
people but to track the vehicles. With this device you can track
within a city block anywhere in the world."
That's not all that GPS and AirIQ can do. Calls to Acme
itself were not returned, but information on the company's Web
site promotes the service's ability to track the vehicle's
location, notify the company when the car has crossed into
another country or state, alert for "excessive speed,"
and even disable the car remotely.
Other car companies and vehicle monitoring services have
embraced GPS as well. General Motors' roadside assistance
service, known as OnStar (http://www.onstar.com),
uses GPS to locate subscribers when they call for help. The
company expects its subscriber base to climb to 4 million by
2003.
However, both GPS and cell phone technologies have raised
privacy concerns.
"The challenge right now is to ensure, before these
services and capabilities are widely deployed, that rules are in
place," said David Sobel, general counsel for the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org)
in Washington, D.C.
At present, both Turner and Acme have left the decision in
the hands of the Department of Consumer Protection. The judge in
the small claims court case has delayed hearing the claim until
the department has issued a ruling.
Brunswick said Acme plans to abide by the Department of
Consumer Protection's ruling. "If they say it's not a fair
practice, we will give him his money back," he said.
"We are not out to make money on this."
[Article found at the following link on ZDNet: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-530115.html?legacy=zdnn]
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