Many states have laws about recording telephone and other conversations — with or without the knowledge of those being recorded. It is likely that states will eventually address tracking GPS information as well. The FBI would like to harvest information from Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites looking for criminals. It will be interesting to see what privacy protection groups will have to say.
Privacy continues to be in the headlines. Companies and governments are garnering and analyzing information that they obtain through means some find questionable in unprecedented ways.
Recently, I wrote a column about Carrier IQ’s business of allegedly tracking cell data. Many readers use Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) maps and rely on the Google Traffic tool to indicate whether traffic is moving or stalled, but the fact that Google uses Global Positioning System data from wireless devices is often a surprise.