[2019] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Mobile phones used as trackers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Tue Dec 30 18:05:25 1997
To: Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>
cc: cryptography@c2.net
In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 30 Dec 1997 14:36:22 PST."
<199712302236.OAA25030@servo.qualcomm.com>
Reply-To: perry@piermont.com
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 17:55:50 -0500
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
Phil Karn writes:
> 1. In my opinion, cellular registration is one of the most
> problematical privacy issues in modern telecommunications. Unlike the
> actual contents of a call, which can at least in theory (if not in
> practice) be end-to-end encrypted against interception in the network,
> registration information is user-to-network. The network needs that
> information to do its job efficiently. I don't see how cryptography
> can help here.
Well, perhaps it could. In theory, Chaumian anonymous digital
credentials could make it possible for one to design a protocol that
permitted calls to be made anonymously and yet without fraud. On the
other hand, such a protocol would not permit users to *receive* calls
without being traced. However, perhaps some sort of cryptographic
protocols could be used to reduce exposure here, too.
The real problem, however, is not the possibility of using such
protocols to increase privacy, but the lack of respect for privacy
among the providers and, more importantly, in the government. As you
point out, simply not logging location information would be sufficient
to assure privacy, but we lack the will as a society to demand that.
Perry
