Smartphones know where you are

You are in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a suddenly sick child in the back seat, You take the next exit but don't know the route through unfamiliar streets to get to a hospital.

But if you have a cell phone or laptop with a wireless signal, it might help you find your way.

Location-based computing can help people if they're lost and give them directions. It can keep them informed of friends' location, and help them meet up while out and about. It is useful for medical reasons, allowing someone who is hurt to let paramedics know where he is.

"Everybody has cell phones and wireless laptops and we are all turned on in terms of connectivity, and therefore people know where we are," said Ling Liu, an associate professor in the college of computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. She and her colleagues are developing next-generation technology to keep you connected but also keep you safe from invasions of privacy. She visited the University of Illinois at Chicago Wednesday to talk about her work.

Through a variety of wireless technologies, it is possible for your wireless computer or phone to figure out its exact location and relay that information to a map provider, or for your cell phone company to locate you and send you a coupon when you are near your favorite store.

The possible applications of the technology are endless, but how can you control who knows where you are?

"Even if you're not asking for services, as long as your device is on, your location is exposed," said Liu.

Liu raised the issues of spam, stalking and privacy invasion as potential misuses of the technology.

Liu talked about the notion of a "location service provider" that would connect you to location-based services, just like an Internet service provider connects you to the Internet. Such an organization, which could be your mobile phone provider, Google, Apple or some as-yet unknown company, would receive updates about your location from your phone or laptop and keep it safe.

Then the location service provider could give out your location, based on your preferences.

"For example, if you say [to the provider] 'I'm a Bloomingdale's member and I always want to receive Bloomingdale's coupons'," Liu explained, "then your [location] data can be given to Bloomingdale's."

"It does make a lot of sense," said Mike Terlouw, a doctoral student focusing on Web security at UIC. "If I have to pick between service providers, I'll go with the better security." He said it would make location-enabled products and services much more attractive to people.

Location-enabled devices are just beginning to enter the marketplace. GPS devices that can show your location on a map and help you find your way are becoming affordable, and many manufacturers are now putting these features into cell phones. Location-based advertising is not yet reality, but there are companies looking into it.

Privacy is something to keep in mind as people begin to use these new gadgets.

"Location privacy research, for me, is serving an educational purpose, to raise the awareness of everybody," Liu said. "What are the potential threats we are facing? Government, organizations and individuals should understand what the possibilities are."

QA with Ling Liu Body:

What is Location-based computing?

LL: [It] is any kind of computing systems or applications that deliver information based on the location of a mobile [phone] user and deliver information that is relevant to the location of the mobile users. Typically we call them 'location-aware,' 'location-based' or 'location-dependent' computing.

What are some applications of this technology?

LL: Location-based advertisement is really hot right now. There are companies making money off of that. They provide solutions for stores to push coupons to the wired customers.

What technologies make this possible?

LL: The most prevalent positioning systems are GPS and WiFi access points. GPS has the drawback: they cannot track people when they are indoors or when they are surrounded with barriers. WiFi and Bluetooth are complementary. For example, at Georgia Tech, we have a WiFi positioning system inside the buildings. We can use the signal strength to detect where you are, if you have a WiFi laptop turned on.

When will location-based computing be available?

LL: It's already available with current devices, and there are a set of social networks already using it. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and even Apple are all interested in location-based information; they are all interested in location-based services; they are all trying to make contracts with different kinds of vendors.

For example, Skyhook Wireless is providing WiFi access across U.S., and European and some Asian countries. They hire truck drivers to drive around and find all the [WiFI] access points, so they have a map. They can use that to [figure out] people's location without using expensive GPS infrastructure. So using their database ... [they can] say where you are as long as your WiFi is on. So Google and Apple, they all signed contracts to use their services.

Is there concern about people's privacy?

LL: In the last five years there's a trend of location privacy and location security. Location privacy is [coming to] the attention of ... people and organizations. When location-aware computing and applications become pervasive, personal and organizational privacy could be at risk.

Basically exposing your location at a single location will not give you a lot of risk. But a sequence of locations published or exposed, people can be ... linking your location information with some other information related with your identity, then they can infer your intention or your political interest or your business interest, so they can infer a lot of things.

What can be done to protect the privacy of people using location-based services?

LL: Eventually government should have ... regulation ... to help protect individuals' or organizations' privacy. Like HIPAA [the law that protects medical information].

Most people are not aware of the privacy risks when they are receiving location-based services.

I would like to have one third party that handles my location. I trust them and they would send out my location to different services based on my privacy requirements. As long as this kind of infrastructure evolves, I think these things are going to get popular really quickly.

Location privacy research is serving as a way to bring awareness, bring education to all the people who are eventually going to be [using] these exciting location-based computing services. ------