Locational privacy

The tracking of the location of individuals is a touchy subject. Some researchers at at Northwestern are discovering just how touchy it is by publishing the results of a project that tapped into the GPS in the phones and monitoring the movements of the individuals. According to the AP, the participation of the human subjects was non-consensual.

In their story, the AP reports that the human subjects were not only not notified but also may not have been considered by institutional review. The AP said that the project did not go through an ethics panel.

UPDATE 6/12/08: As you can see below in the comments, the AP has corrected its story and Northwestern has clarified that this did undergo thorough review. I have to say that I am greatly relieved to hear that. I'd be curious to have heard the review panel's discussion and debate about this. But I am very glad to see that it was thoroughly considered.