practice

Doi: 10.1145/1592761.1592778

Article development led by queue.acm.org

Participatory sensing technologies could
improve our lives and our communities,
but at what cost to our privacy?
BY Katie shiLton

four Billion
Little
Brothers?
Privacy, mobile
phones, and ubiquitous
data collection

The Y PLaCe PhoNe calls, surf the Internet, and there are close to four billion of them in the world. Their built-in microphones, cameras, and location awareness can collect images, sound, and GPS data. Beyond chatting and texting, these features could make phones ubiquitous, familiar tools for quantifying personal patterns and habits. They could also be platforms for thousands to document a neighborhood, gather evidence to make a case, or study mobility and health. This data could help you understand your daily carbon footprint, exposure to

air pollution, exercise habits, and frequency of interactions with family and friends.

At the same time, however, this data reveals a lot about your regular locations, habits, and routwines. Once such data is captured, acquaintances, friends, or authorities might coerce you to disclose it. Perhaps worse, it could be collected or reused without your knowledge or permission. At the extreme, mobile phones could become the most widespread embedded surveillance tools in history. Imagine carrying a location-aware bug, complete