Personal computers that access the Web open the door to
intrusion, but the Wireless Internet will likely produce more
valuable data because most devices can be tied to a person and
not just a household or fixed work location. The fact that content
destined for a wireless device is most often altered and filtered
to conform to smaller screens and limited navigation
provides even more specific data than PC surfing would generate.
A PC data trail may only show a visit to a Web directory
page that contains listings for entertainment; the wireless
device would likely go a level deeper and reveal that a user was
looking at listings for gambling entertainment. Location-based
services will also add another layer of very valuable information—
the history of exactly where you have been for how long.
Because technology and the data generated can be used for
legitimate purposes as well as abused, we will likely not see this
process of collection, storage, and analysis disappear. It may,
however, eventually come under the guidance of laws and regulation
that limit the potential for abuse.
Solving consumer privacy and security issues is key to
enabling growth of the Wireless Internet as applications
improve and become more personal. The current content
accessed most commonly via wireless devices is not very personal—
stock quotes, weather, general news, and the like. But
future applications will enable transactions and inquiries into
personal records like bank accounts and medical records—data
that is personal and damaging in the wrong hands.
Surprisingly, the U.S. constitution does not currently guarantee
privacy, unlike in Europe where the E.U. constitution
actually guarantees a level of privacy. Many other countries
have no similar laws, and in an online world where boundaries
blur, even the existing laws can be hard to enforce.