[LINK] Oz/Times: 'Phone sniffer could find you in trouble'

[Roger Clarke]

[Comments at end]

Phone sniffer could find you in trouble
The Australian, reprint from The [London] Times
Adam Sherwin, London
April 02, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23468939-29677,00.html

HUSBANDS and wives who are not where they are supposed to be are in 
danger of being "sniffed" out by a mobile phone service that gives 
suspicious partners an electronic map showing the location of their 
spouse.

The Social Network Integrated Friend Finder (Sniff) is a new 
application, accessed via Facebook or mobile phone, that could bring 
an end to frantic "Where r u?" text messages.

The service, popular in Scandinavia, promises to provide users with a 
detailed map of their friends' locations, any time and anywhere.

However, there are fears that Sniff could be abused by employers to 
remove the last vestiges of privacy from staff.

Useful Networks, the US company behind Sniff, promised that only 
consumers who gave their permission could be electronically tracked 
by the service, which operates across all mobile carriers.

Having found the service popular in Scandinavia, Useful Networks, 
owned by the US giant Liberty Media, hopes to introduce sniffing to 
Britain this month.

The company plans to charge users about 75p ($1.63) for each location 
sniff, with the results formobile customers sent by return SMS.

It will be the first Facebook application to apply premium charges to 
customers' mobile bills.

The heaviest users in Sweden are wireless-connected members of the 
social networking site, who have integrated the application into 
their personal profile page.

Sniffing works through similar technology to that used by the police 
to track down suspected terrorists or missing children via their 
mobile phones.

The phone sends a signal to nearby base stations. Positioning 
software performs a triangulation calculation on the information from 
the base stations and converts it into a geographical location.

Useful Networks chief executive Brian Levin told The Times: "Personal 
privacy is paramount and sniffing should only be used by people you 
can trust.

"It is a fun way to solve the proven most popular text message, 'Where r u?'."

Travellers who find themselves lost in a new city could also make use 
of the service.

"You can sniff yourself if you really need to," Mr Levin said.

But employees who are enjoying a long lunch or a secret liaison 
instead of the business meeting in their diary could also find 
themselves sniffed out.

Last week, the German supermarket chain Lidl was accused of using 
Stasi-style methods to spy on its staff and collect details of their 
personal lives.

The Times


[Generally, the report is accurate.  But this bit?
" ... the service ... operates across all mobile carriers"

[ http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5860198610

[ Given that the article emerged on 1 April, opinion is divided as to 
whether it's a spoof or not. ]


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW