> The approach developed by Apple and RapidSOS sends location data from an iPhone to a "clearinghouse" accessible to emergency calling centers. Only the 911 calling centers will be able to see the data during the call, and none of it can be used for non-emergency purposes, according to Apple.
How long until this information is available to law enforcement?
In order of increasing sophistication of argument:
- Your phone sends your broad location to your provider constantly, and your precise location (when enabled) to tons of applications. If you are worried about LEO having your location, 911 services is not the first battleground I would choose.
- There could be a legal argument, I assume, that calling 911 acts as consent of the precise tracking of location for the purposes of emergency response, while blanket collection without a warrant would be a violation of civil liberties.
> How long until this information is available to law enforcement?
Well in this case that's entirely the point, people are calling law enforcement. But if you were concerned that someone could just pull up your location at any time, their system only gets your location data when you call 911:
> When this feature is made available later this year in an iOS software update, Apple phones will send fast and accurate device location to the NG911 Clearinghouse when a user dials 9-1-1.
That said, law enforcement can already look up where your phone is based on tower triangulation. This is just about getting more detailed information to first responders more quickly.
Not always. Sometimes it's a medical emergency, or a fire. Law enforcement's access to precise location information should be limited to strictly only emergency scenarios that require their involvement. Any other use should be protected behind a warrant, but it's not clear that this is the case. This is a big shiny object for them that would 'help' in a wide variety of non-emergency situations, so expect abuse.
> law enforcement can already look up where your phone is based on tower triangulation
Tower triangulation is not very accurate. This technology is about being able to locate someone within a handful of meters, not within a a few hundred km^2. It's orders of magnitude more powerful than the current technology they have.
> This is a big shiny object for them that would 'help' in a wide variety of non-emergency situations, so expect abuse.
Did you miss the part where I linked to and quoted that this data is only sent from your phone to the database when you call 911? In non-emergency situations no one will be able to search this database for your location because your location is not in the database.
If you call 911 it is by definition an emergency situation, so no I don't believe this could be abused outside of emergency situations. Also, 911 already gets your location and that feature isn't something that gets abused (again, I fail to see how it could, your phone sends its location when making the call, it's not the authorities requesting its location when receiving a call).
Automatically letting 911 know where you are when you call is something that saves lots of lives, trying to improve the speed and accuracy of that is a good thing that should not be controversial at all.
The movie stylized version of this has 911 able to trace your location in near realtime.
The reality version involves multiple calls or working with a provider and can take up to an hour to get a "Stage 2" (accurate) location. It doesn't happen in real time. "Stage 1" data gives Dispatch a lat/long, with a confidence percentage.
You don't understand, they aren't actively looking at the data so it's not spying. It's just being archived at our central servers for important future use, and any access is subject to warrants (for now). We are working with Google to bring this important life-saving terrorist-defeating child porn-detecting feature to Android. Think of the Children!
(I really hope it only sends out the information exactly while the phone is calling 911. Maybe in the future we'll have big debates about whether people should be able to "walk dark" without a mobile tracking device in the streets.)
Why shouldn't all your traffic, location data, and thoughts be archived for future use?
Maybe in 30 years we figure out you are one of the undesirables of society, and we'll have an easy time getting rid of you and your kind. It's a great boon for society to preserve all data.
Imagine the call is from a gay bar (or the vicinity). The data leaks. Now coworkers know, none of them are okay with it (even if they never confirm their assumptions), and there are no legal protections when they get fired.
There are a lot of non-obvious ways seemingly-innocent data can harm marginalized groups.
Your phone already has your location through a number of means, it’s not like 911 is suddenly creating this fact. If you’re going incognito, and you have your phone on you, you’re not incognito.
I'm not okay with that either. Just because data is already collected for one purpose doesn't mean we have to accept further encroachments on privacy. Every one increases the surface area of risk for a dangerous leak.
>> "You are calling 911. The purpose of the call is specifically to ask the government to send someone to your location."
Correct. I'm not asking the private company "RapidSOS" to relay my location to the government. The endless string of leaks makes me distrust companies with data. Every party I depend on having good security is a new party that might screw up, or intentionally misuse the data.
The involuntary risk surface area is already large enough.
This thread started because someone was concerned that OMG, law enforcement might actually get the location info that you're trying to send them.
If your concern is specifically about the 3rd party getting the data because they're acting as intermediary, I can understand that. I don't agree, but understand.
What's happening here is the normalization of the practice of supplying real-time location information of devices to various government agents by way of an "unassailable good".
This is a great feature given 911's notoriously poor ability to locate mobile callers, but let's be real: this shifts the Overton window.
How long until this information is available to law enforcement?