RE: Is the IP layer the right place to support location information

[EXT Austin Bill-P23393 <Bill.Austin@motorola.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: EXT Randy Bush [mailto:randy@psg.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 10:21 AM
> To: Ron Lake
> Cc: ext-ip-location@research.nokia.com
> Subject: Re: Is the IP layer the right place to support location
> information
> 
> 
> > There is no question that broad availability of spatial 
> information on the
> > Internet (including both mobile and stationary devices) is 
> important.
> 
> as a devil's advocate and just to keep the game honest, i 
> question it.  i
> do not mean to be hostile by doing so, but rather to force us 
> to be able to
> stand up to external criticism having though it through as 
> opposed to just
> making broad statements.
> 
> i have yet to see real justification for this.  some folk 
> think they see
> great market opportunities, but then the specifics get kind 
> of vague.  the
> only solid case i have heard to date has been e911 for ip 
> mobile phones.
> 
> we need three or six solid application examples to back this 
> up.  and, as

The usefulness of proximity related location information has been well
thought out and the marketing possibilities have been explored extensively.
I am in the Mall and am near the barber shop.  My preferences in my mobile
device state that I have not had my hair cut for 6 weeks and my schedule
indicates that I do not have any appointments for several hours.  The barber
shop, whose schedule also indicates an opening, automatically schedules me
for a haircut, notifies me that it has an opening for me at a specific time
and sends me a coupon for $2.00 off if I reply within ten minutes.  It
guides me from where I am to where it is and when I am done, payment is made
automatically by my mobile device.

The toddler wandering out of their own yard (or into the pool area or out of
the house), the Alzheimer's patient, asset tracking, and so forth, are other
examples of potential applications.  Lots of other uses and applications
have been thrashed out in our own collective marketing and business
development departments.  There are some simple examples on the Motorola
Bluetooth web site "Bluetooth in Action" section at
http://www.mot.com/bluetooth/action/ .


> we can be perceived as encroaching on privacy and security, 
> these examples
> should also be thought out along these dimensions.


This is a huge Public Relations management issue.  I have been on talk radio
stations talking about Bluetooth, stored preferences in devices and location
as enablers and I have found that the reception is somewhat negative.
Privacy (confidentiality) is the primary concern since most people do not
understand the implications within the other three fundamental security
elements.

Another interesting data point is the volume of negative publicity
surrounding the recent announcement of the "Digital Angel", a human
implantable, muscle or motion powered, single chip tracking device.  Almost
every news story or article about this device played up the negative aspects
and security problems of the device.  Very little attention was paid to its
potential applications.  Even Jeff Harrow, in Compaq's "The Rapidly Changing
Face of Computing" technology journal (
http://www.compaq.com/rcfoc/20000110.html#_Toc471710920 )  had this to say: 

"but you'll pardon me if I don't volunteer to be a beta tester, even if they
have a less painful way of inserting the bug than in the movie.  Hummm --
but on the other hand, the hero of The Matrix didn't volunteer, either.
Could Big Brother be knocking...?"

You can see more of the press coverage from links at
http://www.stockhelp.net/adsx.html if you are interested.


> 
> randy


--
Bill Austin  http://home.att.net/~wbaustin/
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