Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

“AT&T: More stalkers in more places.”  Perhaps changing their tagline to this sentiment might help customers understand how the company knows where you are.  In this Gadgetell exclusive, we’ve uncovered what the giant telecom AT&T is doing to its customers and why it believes it is in the right.  This may lead to an unnatural fear of your mobile.

Hollywood has been pointing out using a cell phone is unsecure for years in spy movies.  Heroes always ditch their phones, even pulling batteries out of them stating the phone will transmit data even when in the off position.  Are we just slow on the uptake?  Maybe, as Gadgetell’s Executive Editor, Doug Berger found out.

This week, Exec. Editor Berger received this text:

AT&T Free Msg: Committed to enhancing your wireless experience, we just upgraded our wireless network on the XXXX University Campus. Reply stop to end mktg msgs.

I’ve blocked out which university campus for privacy’s sake, but clearly AT&T doesn’t care about you knowing you are being stalked.  Berger happens to frequent the campus and was astonished that AT&T would let its users know that Big Brother is watching. 

Is it helpful that AT&T upgraded their service?  Absolutely.  Is it great that they’ve tied their upgrade into an announcement to the users it will help?  Absolutely.  Is it creepy that AT&T knows where you go and tells you about it?  Absolutely. This is the stuff that made, the “I am in your room, under the bed” kind of horror movies so scary.

From AT&T’s Privacy Policy:

What About Presence, Location, and Tracking Information?
Our network knows the general location of your phone whenever it is turned on. When we offer you optional services that require use or disclosure of this information, the terms and conditions for the specific service offering explain how the location information will be used. We also may provide your network location to emergency service providers if you place a 911 call.

It’s all good right?  AT&T just wants to help us wayward customers that are in trouble.  AT&T says they won’t share your location without your consent, they will only use it to provide you with services such as navigation (AT&T Navigator), Loopt, and Family Map.  These are service many of us find extremely helpful.  All good right?

Well, not so fast.  There is this gem in the privacy policy: “the information you receive in connection with your use of LBS may include advertisements relevant to your request and your location.”  So, AT&T won’t share you location, but they can use it to serve relevant advertising.  It would appear the advertiser is blind to you with AT&T acting as the benevolent invisible hand moving advertisement to it’s flock but refusing to let the wolves have at them directly.

Our take

By signing your contract for service, users let AT&T reach into their personal data to the very extent they’ve agreed to.  AT&T is within it’s legal rights to obtain our location and they are by no means the only telecom doing this. 

We’ve boiled this down to two take aways:
1. Your telecom knows quite a bit about where you go.  As GPS becomes more and more prevalent, this information will be used to bring us more location based services and ads.  This is a fact.
2.  Had Mr. Berger opted out of free marketing messages, he’d be sleeping much better now.  Ignorance is bliss, especially if there isn’t much you can do about it.

Had enough of this?  Ready to rise up against the man to fight for your right to privacy?  Think the teleco’s are going to become the Cyberdyne Systems of the future?  Make yourself heard in the comments below.