Intel Drafts Privacy License for Mobile Device Software.On the heels of Microsoft's recent release
of privacy guidelines for software developers, here's an excellent
example of another company working with privacy scholars to try to
protect end-user privacy when using location-based mobile devices. From
ComptuerWorld:
Intel Drafts Privacy License for Mobile Device Software
Intel Corp. has attached a privacy license to its new location-aware
software product, intended to protect cell phone users' personal
information as mobile devices increasingly rely on tracking technology
to provide targeted services.
Installed on a smart phone or ultramobile PC, location-aware
software can use GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to produce
tailored information like driving directions, nearby restaurants and
movie schedules. The downside of that feature is that handsets can
double as tracking devices if location data is not kept private. The
abuse of such access could range from civil liberties violations to
physical threats in the cases of vulnerable people like battered
spouses, Intel fears.
So, Intel has added a privacy addendum
to the Eclipse Public License it uses for the software application
called Privacy Observant Location System (POLS), according to a posting
on Intel's Web site by John Miller, the privacy and security policy
manager of Intel's corporate technology group.
The addendum says that vendors must inform the end-user what
information is recorded and how long it is stored, and it requires
developers to include opt-out capability so users can change those
settings, Miller said.
[...]
Intel built this value-conscious design/policy feature by working with the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab at the University of Washington, the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, and other academics and lawyers.
The challenge, of course, will be enforcement of the policy. As the folks at Intel acknowledge:
Intel faces a continuing challenge as it must convince
developers to abide by its privacy initiative. The new addendum is
useless if software developers don't obey it, so the company has begun
a campaign to build support in the open-source community. Intel has
asked members of the Open Source Initiative to refine and adopt the
policy as an acceptable amendment to the OSI's standard open-source
license, and made available to the open-source community at large.
"We believe that a bottoms-up effort to encourage the development of
privacy-sensitive social norms is necessary, and in fact critical, for
both privacy and public adoption of the technology," Miller said. "We
post this information here with the hope that others will see value in
this approach."
[via Pogo Was Right]
[michaelzimmer.org]
6:52:30 PM 
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