CHAPTER 4: TECHNOLOGY
document from 2008, “anyone using Google Maps on a smart phone is working in
support of a GCHQ system”.101
4.78.
Software and apps that openly reveal location history and track mobile phones, such
as Google Location History, GPS Tracking, or Life 360, can be used e.g. by parents to
track their children but may also be useful to the authorities. These may use the inbuilt GPS functions of mobile phones, as well as the geolocation enabled by the cellular
network.
Deep packet inspection
4.79.
101
102
103
Real-time surveillance has been made possible by deep packet inspection technology
[DPI].102 Before DPI, the internet was akin to a “daydreaming postal worker”,103 moving
packets around without caring about the content. DPI technology allows the
examination of all the different “layers” of a communication, including the content
layers. It has valuable functionality for legitimate users such as in Security Operations
Centres and malware detection and prevention, but also can be used for invasion of
privacy.
“Angry Birds and ‘leaky’ phone apps targeted by NSA and GCHQ for user data”, The Guardian, 28
January 2014.
DPI technology provides an example of technology developed for certain purposes having a ripple
effect. One of the primary purposes for which DPI technology was developed was to counter security
threats by allowing an ISP to examine all ‘layers’ of a communication. In C. Fuchs, “Implications of Deep
Packet Inspection Internet Surveillance for Society”, (2012) Privacy & Security Research Paper Series,
#1, the author describes what he calls “surveillance creep”, namely, “DPI usage for one purpose...may
creep to other more privacy-sensitive activities”.
L. Lassig, Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, 1999.
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