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rejecting a location disclosure request. This control is typically achieved via a
rule-based mechanism [19] where rules are set based on a variety of factors.
A common starting point is to allow or deny access by default to all users.
Rules are then created that enable or restrict information distribution under a
wide variety of criteria. As an example consider a rule that specifies a time-frame
for when location information is made available, such as 9AM-5PM Monday
through Friday. The common criteria on which rules are built include location
(only show my location if I'm in certain areas and exclude all others), requestor
relationship (allow friends, classmates and co-workers to locate me) and schedule
(allow all people I will be meeting with today to see my location). Complex rules
are subsequently created by combining simpler rules using boolean logic.
Many questions arise in dealing with location disclosure shedding light on
just how complex the privacy issues associated with WLAN positioning can be.
For example, how can we prevent someone who has authorization to acquire a
user's location from passing it on to an unauthorized user? Should a person be
notified every time their location is requested or does the requestor have some
degree of privacy as well? Should a user have the ability to instruct the system
to falsely report about his or her online status? Research is currently being done
by a variety of groups 4 on this topic.
It is clear that users need a mechanism to control the availability of their
location information, but the question of how to best implement this mechanism
and what degree of control to afford users is not entirely clear. The availability
of location data creates serious concerns over stalking, safety and big-brother
applications. Many users will refuse to adopt context-aware applications if their
concerns are not adequately addressed in a clear, concise, and reassuring manner.
4 Visualization
Geographic location information is easier to absorb and navigate when presented
visually. In addition, visual representations of wireless LAN data are highly
effective at supplying a great deal of information at short glance and are effective
at making the information more accessible to non-technological people. From
looking at a real-time map of a network one can easily discern where there
are large concentrations of users, which access points are under-utilized and how
usage changes throughout the day. cmuSKY is a near 5 real-time mapping system
developed at Carnegie Mellon University (Fig. 3). cmuSKY performs positioning
via a combination of the association and propagation methods, placing users a
calculated distance away from the access point they are associated with. Each
connected wireless device is represented as a yellow dot. The buildings on the
map are clickable enabling users to examine each building on the campus at a
finer granularity. cmuSKY also provides maps that show each active access point
4 The Data Privacy Lab (http://privacy.cs.cmu.edu) at Carnegie Mellon University
has explored these issues extensively.
5 cmuSKY is defined as “near” real time because all the access points on the campus
are queried about every two minutes.
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