Since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, privacy advocates are expressing alarm over the government's efforts to expand surveillance aimed at wireless device users.
Well before the attacks, surveillance was planned that would let federal officials monitor what are called packet-mode communications, which allow text messages to be sent on cell phones, pagers and hand-held computers.
The Federal Communications Commission had set a Sept. 30 deadline for the wireless industry to put in place the monitoring technology. Some in the industry had asked for the deadline to be open-ended, but after the attacks last week, responding to calls to broaden wiretap capabilities, the commission turned down the request, instead extending the deadline to Nov. 19.
Technology to monitor packet-mode communications is not commercially available, so the FCC's decision effectively requires wireless carriers to allow law enforcement and intelligence the use of the FBI's Internet wiretap system, formerly called Carnivore.
In addition, Attorney General John Ashcroft has sought to expand greatly surveillance efforts to include wiretaps and other traces of wireless devices operated by suspected terrorists. The Senate is discussing the proposals.
The debate among privacy advocates and executives in the wireless communications industry comes after the utility of wireless devices was highlighted in the days after the attacks.
Passengers on hijacked planes used cell phones to call their families, emergency officials used cell phone signals to try to find victims buried in rubble, and people around the world used cell phones and other wireless devices, like pagers and hand-held computers, to communicate when conventional telephone systems were under strain.
"With all that's happened, privacy groups remind me of climbers that have slipped off a peak and are hanging onto an ice shelf with their picks," said Albert Gidari, a lawyer with the Seattle firm of Perkins Coie, who advises wireless carriers. "It's painfully clear that the emphasis is not on privacy right now but on punishing those responsible for the attacks and preventing future attacks."
Speculation that terrorists may have used wireless technology to coordinate the attacks has breathed new life into efforts to monitor even the most arcane and complex features of wireless networks.
For example, expanding surveillance capabilities to packet-mode communications will require monitoring an area of wireless technology that has yet to gain much of a foothold in the US. Wireless text messaging, which involves typing short phrases into the numbered keypad of a cell phone, is much more popular in Europe and Asia.
Only about 750 million text messages were sent in North America last year. Although that may sound like a sizable amount, it was less than 5 percent of the 20 billion text messages sent worldwide in that time frame, according to Mobilestreams, a research company in Newbury, England.
Regardless of where they originate, most of the text messages sent on cell phones are necessarily terse. Still, the market for such communications is increasing.
"This is complex technology that's evolving fast, so there was the perception that surveillance wasn't keeping up with its development,'' said Prakash Panjwani, vice president for business development at Certicom, a company in Hayward, California, that makes cryptography systems for wireless networks.
"It turns out that surveillance efforts are now stronger than ever, but I'm not sure how long support for this will last," Panjwani added. "It could be weeks or months, but in the end some people just don't like the idea of government being able to listen to your discussions."
In another area of the wireless industry, privacy advocates have emphasized the potential for misuse of the location information that can be gleaned from cell phone signals.
This discussion involves technology that uses cell phone signals and the Global Positioning System to determine the location of cell phone users. These systems are only marginally precise, being able on occasion to locate callers within a radius of about 166m from a given cellular transmitting station.
But efforts are under way to increase significantly the accuracy of location systems.
One effort involves giving users of cell phones, pagers and other devices the advantage of being located quickly after an emergency 911 call, bringing help more rapidly to the site of a crime or fire. Another would help marketers sell products to people based on their location. For example, Starbucks could theoretically let someone know lattes are on sale if they walk past a cafe.
Just a few weeks ago, this potential for intrusion was the principal worry among privacy advocates. They are now concerned about other potential abuses if the government succeeds in attaining greater capabilities to track individuals.
"This is something that has to be thought over very carefully," said Richard M. Smith, chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundation, a research center based in Denver. "What would we do if one branch of the government wants to track people in another branch or political rivals suspected of criminal activity? What would we do if this technology fell into the hands of a foreign government with different interests than our own?"
But not everyone involved in the debate over privacy and wireless communications is concerned about such things. In fact, many in the industry are showing support for more supervision of wireless communications.
"No one disagrees that our priorities as individuals and members of society have changed," said Scott Cleland, chief executive of the Precursor Group, a communications research company in Washington. "Public safety concerns are on a higher level than privacy. The logical solution is to make the approaches to these matters temporary."
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