AT&T to FamilyMap Users: You Have No Expectation of Privacy

AT&T recently announced the launch of FamilyMap, a service that allows customers with a "Family Plan" to track the locations of other cell phones on the same plan.

This is the kind of service that, whether well-intentioned or not, raises all sorts of privacy concerns: it can be used just as easily to monitor a partner or even a parent as to keep tabs on a child's location. Unfortunately, the security mechanisms that AT&T has in place may be insufficient to protect against abuses of the system. Worse, AT&T bluntly disavows any responsibility to protect user privacy, stating that users "expressly agree that You have no expectation of privacy when using AT&T FamilyMap as it relates to Your location."

Speak up and contact AT&T and tell them that you expect much more and aren't going to pay for a new product with your privacy rights!

AT&T: "You Have No Expectation of Privacy"

FamilyMap raises plenty of issues from the privacy perspective. The service authorizes AT&T to
 "collect, use, and disclose geographic location and other personal information (including Your name, address, telephone number, account number, equipment identifiers, and Internet Protocol addresses) to enable delivery of the AT&T FamilyMap service, which may include relevant advertising functions . . . ." The combination of location information, accurate to "within a few yards," and other personal information threatens to capture a rich profile of any targeted user: friends, hobbies, religious or political affiliations, and visits to health professionals could all be determined from a combination of location and personal information.

Unfortunately, FamilyMap gives users very little ability to protect their own privacy. When any user in a Family Plan signs up for FamilyMap, he can request location information on any phone sharing the same plan. The user of the phone being tracked receives only a single text message notifying that user that their phone is being tracked - which could easily be deleted by the tracking party if he or she has access to the tracked phone - as well as "periodic notification via text message that they can be located. These messages are received about once a month." (A pair of blog posts suggest that even this notice isn't always received or understood.)

In other words, another member of your Family Plan could track you for a month or more without your awareness or consent - whether that person was a parent or a "jealous spouse / boyfriend / girlfriend." The only person who receives any other sort of notification - or who has the ability to alter privacy settings to prevent phones from being located - is the account holder. Sharing a "Family Plan" with someone else who has the account in their name? Sorry, you're out of luck.

And then there's AT&T's stated position on user privacy. The Terms of Use for FamilyMap state that, as a user of the service, "You expressly agree that You have no expectation of privacy when using AT&T FamilyMap as it relates to Your location." In other words, if anyone ever comes knocking and demands (or just asks for?) your information, AT&T is telling you that you have no right to protest if AT&T simply hands that information over.

Overall, AT&T is showing a remarkable lack of concern for user privacy. Instead of tacking issues of privacy head-on, AT&T is practically advertising the fact that it has no intention of standing up for the privacy interests of its users. In fact, by requiring a waiver of any expectation of privacy in its terms of use, it may actually compromise its users' rights to protect their own privacy while using the FamilyMap service.

As our recent publication, Privacy and Free Speech: It's Good for Business, demonstrates, companies that actively look to protect their users' privacy and free speech rights will benefit from positive press and customer trust. AT&T seems to be looking the other way, deciding that bluntly rejecting any obligation to look out for their customers' best interests is a better route. Apparently they haven't learned their lesson from past incidents.

The best response to AT&T's blatant disregard of your privacy is to speak out, loudly, and tell them that you expect more. Don't sign up for the service until AT&T changes their Terms of Use and promises to protect the privacy of your personal information. And while you're at it, contact AT&T and tell them exactly why you're not signing up and that you won't use their new services until they make user privacy a priority!

Don't let AT&T give away your rights with a clause buried in its terms of service. Make your voice heard and demand your right to privacy when you choose to use cool new technology!



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