Cell Tower Location Data: Is it Being Used Properly?

After reading an article by David Talbot for MIT Technology Review, which you can find here, you’ll probably get the overwhelming sense that big brother is watching you. There’s has been a lot of discussion about how cell towers can be used to locate a person or prove where a person has been, but Talbot believes there are other uses for this data such as fighting malaria and terrorism. “If two phones are in the same general area, and moving between the same tower coverage areas over some time period, it becomes more likely that it’s not a coincidence.  This is one way to find previously unknown accomplices,” Talbot explains. Every time you pass a cell tower, your phone sends a “ping” to it so your location can be tracked. Some people may find this alarming, but it’s also the same way Google Maps knows how to get you from your location to your desired endpoint. By monitoring the locations of people from their cell phone pings, the National Security Agency can intervene if they believe a terrorist attack is about to take place. “Of course there are very serious and legitimate privacy concerns.  But it will help to acknowledge the beneficial uses of this data–for fighting terrorist plots and for stopping deadly diseases–so that we can somehow get beyond these concerns and make sure these datasets, which are already held by the carriers, can be used for the wider good,” Talbot explains.