《环球时报》英文版 文章 Whereabouts well known
Global
Times [March 03 2011]
A
man juggles two cell phones while sitting with a woman at a square near Beijing
Railway Station on July 29, 2009. Photo: CFP
By Xu Tianran
An information
platform capable of monitoring the real-time whereabouts of China Mobile users
will be tested in Beijing, raising privacy concerns.
The data acquired will
be used for better traffic flow coordination and monitoring the population, according
to a Municipal Science and Technology Commission press release that was issued
on February 28 but later deleted from their official website.
The project, which
was proposed by China Mobile's Beijing branch, will be able to randomly check
on the locations of over 17 million China Mobile users, according to a commission
employee who refused to be named.
"Our focus is to get general statistics
for better traffic management and population monitoring," he said.
"For
example, if you want to determine the number of migrants in Beijing, the platform
is far more precise than a door-to-door census," he said, explaining that
during holidays in particular, mobile activity statistics change dramatically.
"The system will first be tested in the congested Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan
areas within the first half of this year."
Simple radio triangulation methods
similar to those used by US cell phone service providers to locate callers in
distress "will be used to study the population flow at different times, the
population distribution in any given area and where people live and work,"
said the employee.
"Technically, with or without this information platform,
locating any cell phone in a multi-antenna region is feasible," he noted.
"Data
will be collected and processed by China Mobile and sent to us," he continued.
"We won't have any information about any individual cell phone users... China
Mobile will."
After analysis and processing, the information will be sold
to enable citizens to choose optimal transportation means and routes, Li Guoguang,
the deputy director of the commission's social development department, was quoted
as saying by the Beijing Daily.
Li claimed that the operation will strictly
protect the privacy of all involved cell phone users, and that the resulting information
service for citizens will not leak any personal data.
The move comes in the
midst of an ongoing No 2 Intermediate People's Court trial of 23 people, including
customer service employees subcontracted by China Mobile, for selling personal
information, such as user locations, online, according to Xinhua.
In light of
the circumstances, citizens have gone to the Internet with their concerns.
"They
can monitor the whereabouts of 17 million people and they claim it doesn't violate
privacy?" Xu Ruiyan said on a sina.com microblog.
But lawyer Zhu Shouquan
with Beijing Changji Law Firm said there should be no privacy issues.
"If
the science committee's platform only displays general information, such as population
flow or density, it won't violate privacy," he said.
China Mobile's access
to private information is authorized, Zhu said.
"China Mobile will violate
privacy only if it delivers the information to groups or individuals illegally,"
Zhu continued, "so an institution to supervise China Mobile is a key factor."
Representatives
of China Mobile's Beijing branch could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
中译文：
行踪人人皆知
《环球时报》英文版 2011年3月3日 记者：徐天然
2009年7月29日北京火车站附近的一个广场，一名男子在与一名女子坐在一起时摆弄二只手机。图片：CFP
徐天然
一个能够监测中国移动用户实时行踪的信息平台将在北京进行试验，引起了对隐私问题的关注。
根据市科学技术委员会2月28日发布的新闻稿，获得的数据将用于改善交通流量的协调和监测人口。但此新闻稿后来从他们的官方网站上被删除。
该委员会一位拒绝透露姓名的工作人员称，该项目由中国移动北京分公司提出，将可以随机查找超过1700万中国移动用户的位置。
“我们的重点是获得总体统计数据以便更好地管理交通和监测人口，”他说。
“例如，如果你想确定移居北京的人口数量，该平台远远比门对门的普查精确，”他说，并特别解释，移动通讯的统计数据在节假日期间会发生戏剧性变化。“该系统首先将于今年上半年在拥挤的回龙观和天通苑地区进行测试。”
简单无线电三角定位方法与美国移动电话服务提供商用来寻找定位那些处于困境的来电者的方法类似，“它将被用来研究不同时间的人口流动、在特定地区的人口分布和人们的生活和工作，”这位工作人员说。“从技术上讲，有或没有这个信息平台，在一个多天线区域内定位任何手机都是可行的，”他解释。“数据将由中国移动收集和处理，然后发送给我们，”他继续说。“我们不会有关于手机用户的任何个人信息……，中国移动会有。”
经过分析和处理，该信息将被出售，以便能够让市民选择最佳交通方式和路线，北京日报援引科学技术委员会社会发展部副部长李国光的话。
李声称这项操作将严格保护所涉及的所有手机用户的隐私，而且由此产生的对市民的信息服务不会泄露任何个人资料。
根据新华社，此举源于第二中级人民法院正在进行的一个对23人进行的审理，包括中国移动转包的客户服务人员，他们出售个人信息，如用户的位置，在线等。
考虑到具体情况，市民带着他们的关心访问了互联网。
“他们可以监控1700万人的行踪，并且他们声称不违反隐私？”徐天然在新浪微博上问。
北京律师长济事务所的朱寿全律师表示，应该没有隐私问题。“如果科学委员会的平台上只显示一般的信息，如人员流动，人口密度，就不会侵犯隐私，”他说。
中国移动被授权有权使用私人信息，他说。
“只有当中国移动将信息提供给团体或个人才侵犯隐私，”朱接着说，“有一个机构来监督中国移动是一个关键因素。”
未能联系到中国移动北京分公司的代表对此发表评论。
原载http://beijing.globaltimes.cn/society/2011-03/629555.html
长济主任律师