A few points I would like to raise in response to the web article on http://www.spy.org.uk/cgi-bin/childlocate.pl
1 – We have implemented the strongest available encryption technology to secure all data transitions and communications via our network. This means that all communications with our customers are encrypted. For more info on our security set-up go to http://www.childlocate.co.uk/system.htm.
2 - All our customer records are stored in in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 1998 Notification Registration Number: PZ8277048. The Data Protection Act covers all countries within the EU and the EEA.
3 – I very much disagree with the comment in the article that the use of our service can be “life threatening”. The notification features in place make sure that the person being tracked is made aware about the service and he or she is in full control over his or her privacy. Here is a list of privacy control commands available on a mobile phone: http://www.childlocate.co.uk/smscommands.htm
4 – The ChildLocate service is regulated by a Privacy Management Code of Practice that has been approved by the 4 major UK mobile operators and is the basis for the regulation of location based services using GSM in the UK. This document took takes into account various stakeholders interest into account and took over 1 year to create so there isn’t like the operators have just jumped at the bandwagon in order to cash in on location based services. As a result of their concerns, the mobile operators have for example not agreed on allowing “buddy tracking” services on their networks, however lucrative that market might seem.
5 – The operation of the ChildLocate service does not require us to check staffs background via the Criminal Records Bureau. However, access to personal data is restricted on three levels, depending on the role of the person involved, to only a handful of trusted staff and all access to customers for technical support purposes is only accessed by staff directly employed by MobileLocate Ltd.
Best regards
Jon Magnusson
Managing Director
MobileLocate Ltd.
We have commented on Jon Magnussen's points here:
http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/archives/000094.html
and
http://www.spy.org.uk/cgi-bin/childlocate.pl