This report seems to be generating a lot of buzz, I'm not sure why. I guess most don't understand the cellular infrastructure enough to know this has been going on for years. Certainly real time tracking is possible, but I'd be more curious to see the log retention policies of the large wireless companies. Since most people leave their cells on 24/7 (thanks to extended batteries), it's quite possible that a company w/ a 6 or 12 month archive could create an amazingly accurate map of your life. I'll have to research the technical aspects of the 3rd generation wireless rollouts happening now (EVDO, EDGE, etc) - but my initial guess would be that these require more towers creating a denser coverage map. This increase certainly generates an even more accurate tracking model.
posted by mt at 15:24