This article in the Sunday Times today really caught my attention and made me sit up and think.

The technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around.

And

The surveillance mechanism works by monitoring the signals produced by mobile handsets and then locating the phone by triangulation – measuring the phone’s distance from three receivers.

So geopositioning of cell phones is not new technology but this is different.

For a start, this works on a very local level.

Previously your location was triangulated off 3 cell towers which could have been miles away so dependant on the density of cell masts, accuracy could range from a few meters to a mile or so. In addition (with the exception to the security services and law enforcement agencies) this technology cannot be used without your knowledge.

But this new technology (called Footpath) being deployed by Path Intelligence is different because if works by picking up your IMEI number which is constantly being transmitted between your phone and the cell network. The operator does not have a way to find out who that number belongs to so in theory this is all totally anonymous. In theory all that the operator knows is the location of a phone whilst on site and is able track that phone to an accuracy of a couple of meters.

But you can see where the tin hat brigade can get jumpy.

Here is an example.

Lets say a major crime takes place in the local area. The police know that all this data has been collected so issue a warrant for its seizure. The police can now match up all those IMEI numbers up to real user data and suddenly all those anonymous tracks are now names and phone number.

And of course current legislation says that any government department can do this no just the police so you could replace police with security services on terrorism grounds which is fine but what about the benefits agency who can see if a benefit claimant is going on a shopping spree? A snoop too far?

So the possible uses are many and varied but remember that this technology is installed and in use today. Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth has been using this for a while and other shopping centres are signing up fast.

So is this anything to be worried about?

Actually I am not sure. I can see some really valuable applications of this technology beyond it’s current retail use. Some are around national security (would it not be handy to be able to flag when a certain person enters an airport for example) and some are around making life easier (think caller ID on face to face level). But one thing I can see is that this technology could be very powerful in many hands as long as those hands don’t abuse it.

And to the tinfoil hat brigade, big brother is now watching you shop