Volume III

Issue : 18: October 20, 2005

• Virginia City Provides High-Speed Internet over Power Lines
• Privacy Commissioner Releases Annual Reports on Canadas Federal Privacy Statutes
• Estonia First Country to Provide Nation-wide Voting over the Internet
• Japanese Court Finds Publishing News Headlines is Copyright Infringement
• Eminem Sues Over Ring Tones
• Schwarzenegger Signs Bill on Violent Video Games
• Missouri Traffic Tracking Plan Raises Privacy Concerns
• Philadelphias Wi Fi Contract Awarded to EarthLink Inc.
• Illinois Municipality Sues Internet Travel Brokers for Failing to Remit Hotel Occupancy Taxes
• B.C. Court of Appeal Rules Mere Online Publication Not Synonymous With "Actual Malice" for Defamation Purposes

Home > Volume III > Issue 18: October 20, 2005 > Missouri Traffic Tracking Plan Raises Privacy Concerns

Missouri Traffic Tracking Plan Raises Privacy Concerns

In an effort to manage traffic flow, Missouri Department of Transportation is finalizing a contract to monitor thousands of cell phones, using their movements to map real-time traffic conditions on all major roads throughout the state. This project, which would result in the biggest system of its kind worldwide, will take the frequent signals that wireless phones send to towers and will follow the movement of the phones from one tower to another. The data will be used to determine where the phones are, and how fast they are moving, in order to indicate traffic flow. Although officials say the data will remain anonymous, with no possibility of tracking specific people, privacy advocates are still uneasy about the project. George Washington University privacy law professor, and author of The Digital Person, Daniel Solove is troubled by this project because he believes it reflects a movement “toward using a technology to track people.”

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