5. Electronic tracking

I am sure you have seen Hollywood movies where the agent dramatically declares "I am going off the grid!" or maybe "He has gone dark".

What do these phrases mean? Well it means that our constant use of ICT can lead to your every movement and action being tracked electronically, so to avoid being tracked the people in the movies stop using ICT devices.

Consider these:

• Your mobile phone is effectively a tracking device since it has to keep in touch with the nearest mobile mast. The phone company database keeps a record of these positions in order for you to receive and make calls.
• Every credit card and debit card transaction is recorded because card companies need to carry out the purchase request.
• There is a record in various databases of every email, text, twitter, IM message, download, and web page that you have used or sent.

Every one of these records have a perfectly fine reason for existing.

But what if this information is used for reasons other than their original purpose? This is where the controversy lies.

Which authorities have the right to access these records? For what reason?

For example, is it right that a local council uses the RIPA act (designed to counter terrorism) to spy on suspected dog fouling?

The risk to citizen privacy is 'mission creep' where strong systems and laws set up to counter serious crime are used for trivial reasons.

Additional stories:

• Teach-ICT series of news stories on privacy