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통신사들이 우리의 프라이버시를 보호하고 있을까요?

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어제 밤, 내가 거의 알지 못하던 한 남자가 내 동생에게 SMS 로 싸우던 것에서 비롯된 원한이 있다고 말해 주었습니다. 별일 아닌 듯하다가도 그 남자는 내 동생의 번호와 우리 위치 (우리 바랑가이 이름) 가 포함된 문자 메시지를 보여주었습니다. 마치 "네 사는 곳을 알고 있으니 조심해라"라고 말하는 것 같았습니다.

그는 이 사람이 통신사 (텔코) 에서 일하는 지인이 있어 내 동생의 위치를 알아냈다고 합니다. 저는 대부분의 통신사가 휴대폰 신호를 삼각측량만으로 사용자를 추적할 수 있는 기능을 가지고 있으며, 이 서비스는 이미 수년 전부터 제공되고 있다고 말했습니다.

나중에 나를 괴롭힌 것은 이것이 개인정보 보호 문제가 된다는 점입니다. 제 동생은 선불형 SIM 을 사용하고 있어 개인 정보가 관련되지 않아 다행이지만, 만약 후불형 계정이었다면 어떨까요? 당연히 개인 데이터도 노출될 수 있습니다. 이는 또한 그들이 전화 통화를 엿보거나 모든 SMS 대화를 찾아낼 수도 있음을 의미합니다.

제 질문은 -- 기지국 삼각측량을 통한 GPS 추적이 통신사 내부의 누군가에 의해 접근되고 사용될 수 있다면, 사생활 침해에 대한 보호 장치는 무엇인가? 이러한 개인정보가 그곳에서 일하는 사람들에게 쉽게 이용 가능하고 접근 가능한가 (그들이 친구나 친척에게 쉽게 공유할 수 있는)?

저는 통신사들이 일상 네트워크 운영을 담당하는 부도덕한 직원들로부터 우리가 맡긴 개인정보를 보호하기 위해 무언가를 해야 한다고 믿습니다. 이는 아마도 고립된 사례일 수 있지만, 이러한 개인정보가 얼마나 쉽게 접근되고 악용될 수 있는지를 분명히 보여주었습니다.

Frequently Asked Questions

What feature allows tracking via cell tower triangulation?
Triangulation of the cellphone's signal enables tracking.
How might a friend at a telco access location data?
A friend at a telco can access location data by using the service.
What type of account might expose personal data?
A postpaid account might expose personal data.
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Written by
Abe Olandres

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

View all posts by Abe Olandres →

56 Comments

AN
anonymous · 17 years ago

I used to work in a telco company. Guess what? We can view all information coming from the phone like pics and messages including numbers. So be carefull.. ;)

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JL
jlindo · 17 years ago

I agree with privacy issue. But for those into software development, this might be interesting?

http://www.globelabs.com.ph/default.aspx

See Location-Based Services (LBS) API

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CH
Cheeta-Eh · 17 years ago

This only suggests that people in the telcos are not very honest and does not follow any code of ehtics or may they were never had subjects about Enginnering Ethics and Standards…hmm…ECE grad ako…ang alam may subject kami na ganun eh…pero wala ako matandaan kase yung instructor namin binabasa lang nya sa libro…eh nung college ako, I only study what interests me…pero that subject became boring…because of poor teaching habits…or talagang mababa standards ng mga tao kung tungkol sa mga ganyan

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AN
Anonymouse · 17 years ago

Yes, telco companies can extract subscriber info when they want similar to credit card companies.

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X
X · 17 years ago

Same thing is happening with scandal videos taken from respective cellphones. Wondering why these private videos and images leaking? A friend of mine working on a Telco company told me that every SMS or MMS messages your sent will eventually land to their servers before relaying them to the recipients. So ingat warning sa lahat na nag-t-take ng privated video using their cellphones.

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EK
ekstranghero · 17 years ago

i understand that the telcos have that capability. (i have been so excited with tech’s capability since ‘enemy of the state’ by will smith, hehehe). this is indeed something that our esteemed legislators should look into.

but on a very trivial note: could this encounter of your brother be a simple case of some pranksters doing their stuff? i mean, what if this guy really knows your brother, or someone who knows your brother and he/she is just messing with him?

just thinking out loud, sir.

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TU
tuberong_tagalog · 17 years ago

i wonder if your brother’s textmate is gay. how can two guys have grudge over some text messages if one of them is not gay? hehehe

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BH
bhong · 17 years ago

selling private info is a booming biz?

hmmmm…

kaya pala lately im receiving unsolicited text messages offering e-loads, loan assistance and part-time jobs.

i will not be suprise anymore if one day i receive a messages offering viagra and other enlargement pills.

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HU
Huan22 · 17 years ago

I’m sure you know that if you remove the batteries from your cellphone they wont be able to triangulate your location. However, constantly removing your batteries from time to time is very troublesome. And you have already stated that this “guy” already know where you live so doing this wouldn’t be much of help.

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TJ
tj18 · 17 years ago

My friend’s wife used to get info about his calls from her cousin who worked for Smart. When he found out about it he immediately terminated his subscription and transferred to Globe.
My worry here is that infos are readily available without the need for court orders. Scary thought.

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HE
heyru · 17 years ago

I think its a good thing in some way… people may be hesitant to do bad things since they can now be easily tracked down…
IMO, privacy is living without internet and phones, and it is for big time people and celebrities./

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IC
ice_hot · 17 years ago

i agree with james. in this information age, personal information is very easy to come by. common, by being online makes me vulnerable to info scalpers… but i do also agree that there should be laws in place and enforced for more personal information security.

the earning student

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TE
TechPinas · 17 years ago

That’s just wrong — definitely not to be taken lightly.

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JH
Jhay · 17 years ago

Now this is something that Legislative inquiries should look into, for once we’d get some real benefits out of those shenanigans!

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JA
James · 17 years ago

guys, why is everyone so engrossed about personal privacy when it comes to telcos and sim cards?

the minute you were born and registered at the munisipiyo, enrolled in school, sent out resumes to potential employers, you’re not bothered by personal privacy issues??

triangulating is old news dating back since man sent wireless signals. also, prepaid or postpaid sims can be sniffed no matter what. landlines can be sniffed as well as it’s wireless siblings.

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PA
Paul Farol · 17 years ago

E-load sellers normally have pieces of paper where customers write down their cellphone numbers.

It is completely possible that those selling e-load could also be reselling the cellphone numbers they get.

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GL
Glenn · 17 years ago

I also heard from the Radio that the boyfriend of someone got a copy of his girlfriend’s text messages from a telco. Tsk!

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AD
Adrian · 17 years ago

yes. you should file a complaint in the telco and police.

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SC
scout · 17 years ago

why not file a complaint with the telco? surely they have logs for data access. just test it and see how far it goes.

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DA
Darren · 17 years ago

this is really a serious issue indeed, remind me of the motion film –> “enemy of state” , it’s too horrible for normal people like us. But advanced hackers can do something similar, breaking the computer remotely.

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EL
elmer · 17 years ago

if privacy in an issue.. be get ready you 2nd amendment, in case the dude is serious to hurt you

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ED
Ed · 17 years ago

back in 2001 i worked at the seattle, washington headquarters of AT&T Wireless. While there, not only did i know how to triangulate where a person was based on their cell signal – but i could also use any phone and triangulate the nearest cell tower (i forgot how to do this already haha). triangulation is just simple mathematics. this was before gps on phones.. we just used the cell signal.

also, i know that the customer service side of AT&T obviously had access to all account information. so really, the only thing stopping someone from sharing info would be a mere confidentiality agreement. i know people that looked up addresses for celebrities in the states. however, quality control department is always monitoring actions and calls of their employees… if you look up a file that had nothing to do with your call, you would hear about it if they caught you. while i didnt work in the call center, i heard stories from other workers.. i wonder if the telcos here have strong quality control departments to regulate private information flow.

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BI
BigBird · 17 years ago

Is our privacy protected by the telcos?

I doubt it!

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HA
HAOMARU · 17 years ago

Thanks a lot for that info Yuga! Its like the movie enemy of the state – Will Smith, kaya lang kung ganun d2 sa atin parang okay2x na private infos natin! LOL

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JA
Jay · 17 years ago

cool.. if only we could’ve access to their super spy networks we could track commander robot and everyone else.

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AN
Andre Marcelo-Tanner · 17 years ago

im not surprised.

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AB
Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 17 years ago

Yep, overheard a couple of politicians in the last elections being offered 1 million phone numbers for SMS blast.

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CO
Connie · 17 years ago

Ang alam ko booming business yan sale ng private info. In bulk. Especially to businesses engaged in telemarketing.

Reply

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