New GPS technology could potentially create an Orwellian world

location based services

Tim Hibbard wants you to see where he is. On his Web site, timhibbard.com/wherestim, Hibbard uses GPS technology to plot his location on a map of Lawrence, Kansas, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A GPS phone in his car feeds information into a Google Map, and a small icon represents Tim Hibbard, Web site architect and self- confessed geek. If you zoom in on the location, you can see the roof of the building he's in. If you were familiar with Lawrence, you could suggest things for Hibbard to do.
"One guy sent me a text message which said: `Hey dude! Get some coffee!' I was actually already on my way to get coffee," he recalls.
It won't be long before Hibbard's isn't the only pin on such maps.
GPS business is booming in the US and Europe. But it's only just begun in terms of phones that know your location on the planet -- and which are prepared to tell the world about it.
Since the end of last year, the US has had E911, or "enhanced 911" system, which lets emergency operators work out the location of someone calling from a new mobile phone -- because the phone incorporates a means of working out its location, either using GPS or by triangulation from the strength of the signal at the nearest mobile phone masts -- that hasn't been available to the user directly, nor to outsiders.
Now GPS is being incorporated into new cellphones so that owners can access it. And the effect could be revolutionary. But who would put their position on a map that anyone could browse?
Plenty of people, suggests Hibbard, who predicts that convenience will rule.
"People are very willing to give up their privacy," he says.
"You just have to give them a good reason to do so. If you can assist a person in their everyday life, they will be more than happy to divulge their current location," he says. "For example, you can synchronize your calendar with your GPS device and be alerted when you need to leave for an appointment, following a route that's been automatically generated based on real-time traffic conditions. Or you can be alerted when you are six blocks from a store that contains an item that is on your online shopping list."
Hibbard thinks that GPS-broadcasting phones could even kill off the unwanted advert. While there may be something disquieting about shops monitoring the location of potential customers, you can also view it in terms of the benefits for the consumer.
"It's kind of like target advertising. I will never buy a truck, I'm just not a truck kind of guy. So if the motor companies knew that, they would not waste their money advertising their new trucks to me. Now, I am always in the market for a new phone and do not have a problem viewing ads for cellular phones. I'm willing to divulge my buying habits in exchange to never see another truck commercial," Hibbard explains.
Or, for example, imagine being in a strange city. You could set up your GPS-enabled phone to alert you when you're near a five-star restaurant, or a hotel within your price range, or a cinema.
These examples are the tip of the iceberg. We're looking at a future where technology will ensure that nowhere is completely unfamiliar. The services on offer now -- simple location-based services from Orange and 3 -- will tell you where the nearest bank or cinema is, or recommend a restaurant, or offer a weather report. They're anaemic, though, compared to what could happen -- say, having your phone ping when someone in your address book comes within half a mile (you might want to turn that feature off before arriving in the office).
But why apply it when among strangers? What about a few thousand of your closest friends?
Hibbard believes the crossover potential for GPS is very real: "I think there is a huge market for consumer real-time GPS, especially in social networking sites like MySpace."
A social networking site could use real time GPS by letting you add friends to your online profile; you could start by marking their houses on a map. You could also mark other areas where you spend a lot of time, like your workplace or your favorite pub. When your friends log on, they can see where you are. You click on their map and you can see where they are. Your phone could even alert you when they're near.
A toned-down version -- one that only showed where people had been online, rather than in "meatspace" -- was implemented last week by the social Web site Facebook, favorite of the American college crowd.
It introduced what it called the "mini-feed", a little box that tracked users' every online action on their profile. Updates ranged from the functional -- "John has put up new photos" -- to saucy and private: "John has broken up with Linda and is now dating Sarah."
The reaction: pandemonium. Users were outraged, infuriated, incandescent. An online petition demanded the removal of the new features, garnering roughly 110,000 signatures. One described the new Facebook as "stalker heaven" and countless others branded it "creepy" or "stalkerish."
Facebook pulled the feature within days and posted a mollifying apology. Where was Hibbard telling them they ought to embrace it?
But if even teenagers have concerns when it comes to being watched, what about their younger siblings? Parents who want to track their children can already choose from several different companies in the UK. Some offer tracking via text message, and others by more accurate GPS devices.
Parents can even "geo-fence" their offspring: if a child carrying the device leaves a certain area, the parents are instantly informed. The same companies offer this service to employers too (oddly, managers never volunteer to investigate how beneficial such tracking technology is to productivity).
There are US$565 GPS systems that can be used to spy on a spouse or partner, with magnets to attach it to the underside of a car. The urge to track each other means even man's best friend isn't safe: the US$460 RoamEO GPS tracking system attaches to your dog's collar, and tells you where it is, though only within a one-mile radius. At least you don't have to worry about your pet granting its consent.
And ultimately, consent is the bottom line. Whether we're using our mobile phone, wandering around on social networking sites, or just going about our daily lives, we want to have agreed to any tracking that takes place.
Whether it's parents tracking children, or employers tracking employees, it's difficult to have pure consent where one party is dependent on the other.
Even Hibbard has reservations here: "I have a major problem with the track-your-kids, or track-your-wife sites, because the person who's being tracked isn't in control of who is tracking them."
John Bell, of Child Locate, claims if the child doesn't want to use the unit he can simply switch it off. Of course, the biggest potential for abuse surely lies with the biggest power: governments. As a pioneer, Hibbard is optimistic.
"I could choose to be paranoid and concerned about that, but I'm not. I wasn't around when the first bank was invented, but I'm sure there were a lot of people that had a problem putting their money in someone else's hands," he says.
But are we willing to accept new technology because the benefits and conveniences it offers to us are so tempting?
Jen Corlew, of the UK human rights group Liberty, doesn't believe it's worth it.
"There might be some benefits of GPS tracking technology becoming popularized but I think the technology makers will be hard pressed to say why this is actually necessary. I don't think those benefits really outweigh the risks of a situation where people can be monitored without being aware of it," she says.
One Facebook user, signing the petition opposing the recent changes, noted: "I find it sad this is one of the few issues our generation can band together, complain online and take little real action over."
Therein lies the crux about privacy and tracking: most vehement complaining takes place after people feel they have been victimized by technology and long after it has been popularized.
This is especially true for location-based services, where the opportunities they can provide are so tempting that for now we can merrily begin to try them out. We can also ignore the fact this technology could easily become the eye of Big Brother.
However, where Orwell pictured coercion and countless sci-fi stories have show people strapped to a surgical table with monitoring chips inserted into their heads, few ever dreamed we'd gleefully sign up for self-surveillance.
But Orwell didn't see the fun side, or that surrender might be total once telescreens could show a map with a pin saying, "Tim is here." This story has been viewed 659 times.