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Geographic Aspects of Location Tracking with RFID and GPS

Geographic Aspects of Location Tracking with RFID and GPS . Mark Monmonier Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs / Syracuse University. Foci of this Presentation. Compare and contrast RFID and GPS Legal issues Reliability and liability Lobbying and legislation Privacy issues

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Geographic Aspects of Location Tracking with RFID and GPS

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  1. Geographic Aspects of Location Trackingwith RFID and GPS Mark Monmonier Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs / Syracuse University

  2. Foci of this Presentation • Compare and contrast RFID and GPS • Legal issues • Reliability and liability • Lobbying and legislation • Privacy issues • Informed consent • Retention period • Control of one’s locational history • Unintended consequences

  3. Radio Frequency Identification • Advantages • Inexpensive tags, especially for merchandise • Disadvantages • Limited range • Position tied to location of the antenna/reader • Technical issues • Increase the range? • Support triangulation? • Can movement be channeled through a minimal number of gates?

  4. Geographic Issues for RFID • Range (effective distance) • Positively correlated with cost (and size) • Greater the range, the less dense the network of interrogator stations • Tag memory (read/write? store data?) • Positively correlated with cost • Tags with ample read/write memory could keep track of where they’ve been • Locational history is possible with read/write tags and an adequate interrogation network

  5. Interrogator Network • Choke pointsin thecirculation network • A geographic problem: what’s the network like and where are the choke points? • An optimization issue: trade-offs between cost and coverage • Network and optimal chokes depend on: • Gates (doorways) or movement channels • Pause points in subject’s movement • Predictable routes based on predictable origins and predictable destinations • Plan for less predictable movement?

  6. Global Positioning System • Military origin • Real-time weapons-system guidance • A “you-are-here” for electronic battlefield maps • Constellation of 24 satellites • Satellites transmit an ID-and-time signal • Estimates location and elevation • Time signal blurred under “Selective Availability” • Location Based Services (LBS) industry • European commercial system: Galileo

  7. Global Positioning System • Disadvantages • Cost and size of receiver • Real-time tracking depends on wireless network • Poor indoor reception because of signal attenuation and multipath-corrupted signals in buildings and “urban canyons” • Advantages • Positional accuracy • The slower the movement, the greater the locational accuracy (useful for geodetic surveying) • Record or transmit a locational history

  8. GPS - RFID Hybrids • GPS for • Outdoor movement • Short-term storage of recent locational history • RFID for indoor tracking • Greater control of subject’s movement indoors • Does the location warrant interior detail? • Network density (interrogator stations, range, etc.) can be adjusted to need for surveillance • RFID as a supplement to GPS tracking

  9. “Pseudolites” • Pseudo-satellites • Aircraft at a lower altitude • Stronger signal • Military solution to • Jamming • Need for greater accuracy and reliability in a war zone • Compatible with regional denial of GPS signals—ad hoc “Selective Availability”

  10. Links to Other Systems • Video surveillance • RFID as a trigger • Traffic surveillance systems • RFID to increase the panoptic potential of traffic-count and signal-control systems • Real-time Web monitoring • GIS-based ‘no-go’ areas

  11. Legal Issues • Reliability of highly complex systems • Consequences of failure • Litigation • Disclaimers • Lobbying and legislation to . . . • Reduce the failure rate (standards, better data) • Externalize costs of system improvement • The Wireless E-911 experience: • Repeatedly deferred deadlines

  12. Privacy Issues • Tracking of vehicles and merchandise • Personal privacy? • Limits to surveillance of employees? • Whose information is it? • Retention period • Sale of locational histories (anonymized or not) • Why reliable anonymization is problematic • ‘Opt in’ or ‘opt out’? • “Do not track” button? • Can the USA PATRIOT Act override it?

  13. Unintended Consequences • What will people do to defeat a personally invasive system? • Can prosecution for misuse increase public acceptance? • Can geo-tracking lead to new, broader definitions of deviancy? • The “Geoslavery” argument?

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