[Geowanking] MS local.live.com & privacy (lack of)

[Pall Thayer]

And, of course, it's completely non-functional on Safari. It doesn't  
do a thing. Just the interface at the top and then a large white void.

Pall
On 9.12.2005, at 16:39, Mike Liebhold wrote:

> I took a look yesterday at Microsofts new Virtual Earth  
> incarnation, called local.live .com. <http://local.live.com/>
>
> I won't write a full review here. Anyone interested can take a look  
> themselves.  Beyond the irritating, unblockable CSS-like popups,  
> There 's a critical point about Microsoft's handling of sensive  
> location information that's worth immediate comment here:
>
> The service includes a feature called "locate me" which launches a  
> Placelab-like wifi base-station geolocation technique.called  
> 'Location Finder" which listens for the MAC address and compares it  
> to a client cache of locations of known base stations. Placelab,  
> which was developed by Intel Labs, is available free for download  
> on sourceforge, and as many people may know, was explicitly  
> designed by Intel to be 'privacy observant'. Unlike most e-911  and  
> mobile phone location systems which sureveil, and actively track a  
> users location, Placelab was designed to present location  
> coordinates privately to a user, without querying, or notifying the  
> network. IMHO this is a noble design goal.
>
> Microsoft's "Location Finder" program, on the other hand, includes  
> the following disclaimer in the terms and conditions link which  
> says " Your privacy is important to us. click here <http:// 
> go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=51332&clcid=0x409> to see our  
> privacy policy:"
>
> [snip]
> "Use of Location Information ... Microsoft may use the information  
> collected to provide you with more effective customer service, to  
> improve Location Finder and any related Microsoft products or  
> services,...
>
> Microsoft may disclose location information if required to do so by  
> law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to  
> (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process  
> served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights or property  
> of Microsoft and our family of Web sites; or (c) act in urgent  
> circumstances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees  
> or agents, users of Microsoft products or services, or members of  
> the public.
> Location information collected by Location Finder may be stored and  
> processed in the United States or any other country in which  
> Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain  
> facilities. "
>
> [snip]
>
> So much for privacy of Microsoft's  'Location finder' program.
> If this is unpalatable to you, you may be interested in trying as I  
> did  an alternate location techique. Instead of 'Location Finder'   
> local.live.com also offers users a choice to select IP location  
> lookup. As discussed here in the past, IP geolocation is an  
> imperfect art, dependent of the accuracy of the data in the offical  
> IANA database ( Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.)  In my case,  
> my IP address has shown that am in San Diego, since that's where my  
> IP connection is officially terminated at the downlink center for  
> my satellite service provider. I'm actually connected to the  
> Internet via a KuBand satellite in the remote wilds of Northern  
> California, a long ways away. The location of my dish is simply not  
> visible to the net.  It looks, to the net, like I'm in San Diego,  
> over 700 miles south.
>
> So, you might understand that I was quite suprised and dismayed  
> that Microsoft's IP lookup returned my actual location in the woods  
> in Northern California !!!  Just to be sure they didn't get my  
> address from my satellite service provider, I called the Network  
> Operations Center, who said the location of my dish is  private,  
> but looked up my record anyway,  and confirmed " Our database, and  
> the IANA database show your IP address is in San Diego.  Clearly  
> Microsoft's IP location database includes spooky datamined  
> information about users' actual location that is not normally  
> available by querying the publically accessible databases.
>
> Be forewarned.
>
>
> Mike
>
>
> Mike Liebhold
> Senior Researcher
> Institute for the Future
>
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--
Pall Thayer
palli at pallit.lhi.is
http://www.this.is/pallit