Spatial Law and Policy Update provided by the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy
Privacy
Mobile Marketing Association to update code of conduct (MoBlog)
How one app sees location without asking (WSJ)
Woman sues Google for showing image of underwear (The Telegraph)
Federal Privacy Office recommended (New York Times)
Google stops latitude-location alerts (Techcrunch)
Insurance Company Tracks Driver Responsibility (Mashable)
Law Enforcement
Homeless probationer not charged for failing to recharge GPS device (Boston.com)
Warrant required for access to email records (Cnet)
PA court ruling favors GPS tracking evidence (Daily Local News)
Police who disable GPS device deserve discipline or firing (tampabay.com)
Appeals Court: Feds needs warrants for email (cnet)
Intellectual Property
Request for school redistricting data rejected (The Dagger)
TomTom sues over map data sub-licensing (gpsbusinessnews)
Intelligent Transportation System
Virtual driving just got more real (WSJ)
DOT may ban cell phone use for bus and truck drivers (The Hill)
Patents
WHERE gets geofencing patent (Directions Magazine)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Top 10 Spatial Law and Policy Stories of 2010
2010 was a big year for the geospatial industry. It was also a big year for matters related to Spatial Law and Policy. Below, in no particular order, are what I consider to be the Top 10 stories related to Spatial Law and Policy in 2010.
1. Europe's reaction to Google Street View. Countries continued to express privacy concerns in 2010 over Google's Street View collection, particularly when it was revealed that in some cases Google was also collecting emails and other personal information. However the response seems to have been the strongest in Europe. One of the results was Germany introduced efforts to regulate mapping efforts such as Street View.
2. Privacy legislation in United States includes "precise geolocation information".
Following a series of Congressional hearings, two pieces of legislation (one introduced and one simply proposed) intending to protect internet privacy included language regulating the collection, use and sharing of "precise geolocation information". The term was not further defined, presumably leaving it up to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address. Subsequently, both the FTC and the Department of Commerce issued reports concerning internet privacy and both referenced location. Geolocation is sure to be a hot topic on Capitol Hill next year.
3. "Free and Open Data". I have seen it alternatively described as "free and open" or as "full and open" spatial data. Either way, there is a growing trend to make spatial data available at as little cost and with as few restrictions as possible. This trend can be seen at the international level, (e.g. Global Earth Observation System of System (GEOSS) and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), the national level (efforts to release national data sets under Creative Commons-type licenses) and at the local level (e.g. increased availability of Open Street Map data. This effort could have a significant impact on the ability to combine and use data sets from a variety of sources. It may also result in some data suppliers from holding back their most valuable or sensitive data sets.
4. Mark Brender leaves GeoEye. Those outside the remote sensing industry may not be aware of Mark, but Mark began extolling the many potential benefits of commercial remote sensing in the early 1980's and since then has been actively working to promote the industry and the technology in Washington and the media. Mark left GeoEye this year in order to work more actively with the GeoEye Foundation, an organization he helped start with CEO Matt O'Connell's assistance in 2007. Although Mark will remain active in the industry, his daily efforts to grow the industry will be missed.
5. Warrantless GPS tracking. Courts in the United States issued a series a conflicting decisions in 2010 as to whether law enforcement needed to obtain a warrant before using GPS or other tracking devices to monitor an individual's movements. Confusion on such an important issue is unacceptable. Hopefully it will be resolved in 2011.
6. Law enforcement obtaining customer location information. An important decision was issued by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals this year as to whether law enforcement needed to obtain a warrant before obtaining historical location information about an individual through their cell phone records. Unfortunately, the court punted. This issue is also too important to remain unresolved. In that regard, Congress is looking at updating the relevant portions of the Electronic Communications Protection Act (ECPA). This effort is supported by the Digital Due Process Coalition - a broad coalition of technology companies and think tanks.
7. Privacy lawsuits. In December, there were two lawsuits filed against Apple and a few application developers for collecting personal information, including location, associated with iPods and iPads without the consent of the owner. This is likely to become a bigger issue in 2011 and may include Android phones, given the uncertainty in this area of the law. In a somewhat related matter, Google was forced to pay the Borings of Pennsylvania $1 for trespassing. (You will remember their invasion of privacy lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.)
8. Crowd-sourcing. Crowdsourcing, community remote sensing, voluntary geographic information (VGI), whatever you want to call it, became a big issue in 2010. Undoubtedly, the proliferation of smart phones creates the possibility of a volunteer sensor network. However, it will raise a number of legal and policy challenges, including liability, privacy, national security and intellectual property rights.
9. Ordnance Survey licensing terms. Ordnance Survey has taken a number of hits over the years regarding its policy on licensing of spatial data. Its decision in 2010 to reduce licensing restrictions was an important event. However, from my point of view the discussion and examples it used when discussing issues such as what constitutes a derivative product subject to OS licensing is equally important. Clearly, OS put a good deal of thought into this issue and I recommend it as a useful resource to anyone involved in this area.
10 Accidents involving navigation devices. There were a few high-profile incidents reported in the media related to satnav devices, including one reported fatality. In addition, there was a lawsuit filed against Google claiming an injury related to use of Google Maps. Not surprisingly, plaintiff lawyers are discussing the risks associated with use of such devices.
1. Europe's reaction to Google Street View. Countries continued to express privacy concerns in 2010 over Google's Street View collection, particularly when it was revealed that in some cases Google was also collecting emails and other personal information. However the response seems to have been the strongest in Europe. One of the results was Germany introduced efforts to regulate mapping efforts such as Street View.
2. Privacy legislation in United States includes "precise geolocation information".
Following a series of Congressional hearings, two pieces of legislation (one introduced and one simply proposed) intending to protect internet privacy included language regulating the collection, use and sharing of "precise geolocation information". The term was not further defined, presumably leaving it up to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address. Subsequently, both the FTC and the Department of Commerce issued reports concerning internet privacy and both referenced location. Geolocation is sure to be a hot topic on Capitol Hill next year.
3. "Free and Open Data". I have seen it alternatively described as "free and open" or as "full and open" spatial data. Either way, there is a growing trend to make spatial data available at as little cost and with as few restrictions as possible. This trend can be seen at the international level, (e.g. Global Earth Observation System of System (GEOSS) and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), the national level (efforts to release national data sets under Creative Commons-type licenses) and at the local level (e.g. increased availability of Open Street Map data. This effort could have a significant impact on the ability to combine and use data sets from a variety of sources. It may also result in some data suppliers from holding back their most valuable or sensitive data sets.
4. Mark Brender leaves GeoEye. Those outside the remote sensing industry may not be aware of Mark, but Mark began extolling the many potential benefits of commercial remote sensing in the early 1980's and since then has been actively working to promote the industry and the technology in Washington and the media. Mark left GeoEye this year in order to work more actively with the GeoEye Foundation, an organization he helped start with CEO Matt O'Connell's assistance in 2007. Although Mark will remain active in the industry, his daily efforts to grow the industry will be missed.
5. Warrantless GPS tracking. Courts in the United States issued a series a conflicting decisions in 2010 as to whether law enforcement needed to obtain a warrant before using GPS or other tracking devices to monitor an individual's movements. Confusion on such an important issue is unacceptable. Hopefully it will be resolved in 2011.
6. Law enforcement obtaining customer location information. An important decision was issued by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals this year as to whether law enforcement needed to obtain a warrant before obtaining historical location information about an individual through their cell phone records. Unfortunately, the court punted. This issue is also too important to remain unresolved. In that regard, Congress is looking at updating the relevant portions of the Electronic Communications Protection Act (ECPA). This effort is supported by the Digital Due Process Coalition - a broad coalition of technology companies and think tanks.
7. Privacy lawsuits. In December, there were two lawsuits filed against Apple and a few application developers for collecting personal information, including location, associated with iPods and iPads without the consent of the owner. This is likely to become a bigger issue in 2011 and may include Android phones, given the uncertainty in this area of the law. In a somewhat related matter, Google was forced to pay the Borings of Pennsylvania $1 for trespassing. (You will remember their invasion of privacy lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.)
8. Crowd-sourcing. Crowdsourcing, community remote sensing, voluntary geographic information (VGI), whatever you want to call it, became a big issue in 2010. Undoubtedly, the proliferation of smart phones creates the possibility of a volunteer sensor network. However, it will raise a number of legal and policy challenges, including liability, privacy, national security and intellectual property rights.
9. Ordnance Survey licensing terms. Ordnance Survey has taken a number of hits over the years regarding its policy on licensing of spatial data. Its decision in 2010 to reduce licensing restrictions was an important event. However, from my point of view the discussion and examples it used when discussing issues such as what constitutes a derivative product subject to OS licensing is equally important. Clearly, OS put a good deal of thought into this issue and I recommend it as a useful resource to anyone involved in this area.
10 Accidents involving navigation devices. There were a few high-profile incidents reported in the media related to satnav devices, including one reported fatality. In addition, there was a lawsuit filed against Google claiming an injury related to use of Google Maps. Not surprisingly, plaintiff lawyers are discussing the risks associated with use of such devices.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Spatial Law and Policy Update (December 8, 2010)
Spatial Law and Policy Update provided by the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy
Privacy
Lawsuit targets online data collection technique
Legislators Ponder How To Protect Intenet Privacy
Markey to introduce online privacy bill for children
Boring's lawsuit concluded
Germany unveils plan to tighten internet privacy
Tracking companies to let consumers see the data collected on them
Data Quality
Does Crowdsouring Have a Role in Surveying?
Man Follows GPS device, gets arrested
Got Maps?
SmartGrid
Police in Canada allowed to solicit help from electricity company in co-op case
Intelligent Transportation System
DoT to explore cellphone disabling equipment in cars
Insurers to offer more pay-as-you-go offerings
Social media tackles traffic
Driver cams; safety tools or on the road to privacy loss?
Kenya to require GPS on all autos
Intellectual Property
Microsoft's terms of use for Bing imagery by OpenStreetMap
Making copyright work better online
National Security/Law Enforcement
The President's Daily Map
Thieves Use Google Earth to Target Churches
Ohio Supreme Court upholds warrantless GPS tracking
DC Court of Appeals strikes down warrantless GPS tracking by police
International
Google lauches 'Earth Engine'
Star of David on Top of Building Rankles Iran
Visa Europe to Mobile Phones' location to prevent fraud
Privacy
Lawsuit targets online data collection technique
Legislators Ponder How To Protect Intenet Privacy
Markey to introduce online privacy bill for children
Boring's lawsuit concluded
Germany unveils plan to tighten internet privacy
Tracking companies to let consumers see the data collected on them
Data Quality
Does Crowdsouring Have a Role in Surveying?
Man Follows GPS device, gets arrested
Got Maps?
SmartGrid
Police in Canada allowed to solicit help from electricity company in co-op case
Intelligent Transportation System
DoT to explore cellphone disabling equipment in cars
Insurers to offer more pay-as-you-go offerings
Social media tackles traffic
Driver cams; safety tools or on the road to privacy loss?
Kenya to require GPS on all autos
Intellectual Property
Microsoft's terms of use for Bing imagery by OpenStreetMap
Making copyright work better online
National Security/Law Enforcement
The President's Daily Map
Thieves Use Google Earth to Target Churches
Ohio Supreme Court upholds warrantless GPS tracking
DC Court of Appeals strikes down warrantless GPS tracking by police
International
Google lauches 'Earth Engine'
Star of David on Top of Building Rankles Iran
Visa Europe to Mobile Phones' location to prevent fraud
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Spatial Law and Policy Update (December 2, 2010)
Made possible by the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy
Privacy
Trust aims to safeguard mobile privacy
Canadian court to consider whether police officer has expectation of privacy in photo
House hearing on "Do Not Track" legislation on Dec 2
Geographical information as personal information (registration required)
Data Quality/Liability Issues
New Brunswick passes driver distraction legislation
USGS changing the way it does maps
What Steve Coast's move to Bing Really Means
Intellectual Property
Bing Maps donating aerial imagery to OpenStreetMaps
Victorian spatial council releases online map guidelines
GPS Business News confusing ownership with rights under license agreement
National Security/Law Enforcement
Saudi King suggests planting chips on detainees
Illinois EPA ups monitoring of large livestock farms
Crowd-sourcing
Next generation 911 system will accept text messaging and photos
Intelligent Transportation System
Real time traffic and GNSS
International
Google Maps faces July 2011 deadline to register in China
Miscellaneous
The Internent of Things
Privacy
Trust aims to safeguard mobile privacy
Canadian court to consider whether police officer has expectation of privacy in photo
House hearing on "Do Not Track" legislation on Dec 2
Geographical information as personal information (registration required)
Data Quality/Liability Issues
New Brunswick passes driver distraction legislation
USGS changing the way it does maps
What Steve Coast's move to Bing Really Means
Intellectual Property
Bing Maps donating aerial imagery to OpenStreetMaps
Victorian spatial council releases online map guidelines
GPS Business News confusing ownership with rights under license agreement
National Security/Law Enforcement
Saudi King suggests planting chips on detainees
Illinois EPA ups monitoring of large livestock farms
Crowd-sourcing
Next generation 911 system will accept text messaging and photos
Intelligent Transportation System
Real time traffic and GNSS
International
Google Maps faces July 2011 deadline to register in China
Miscellaneous
The Internent of Things
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