Policy & Legal Framework for a
Location-Enabled Society
3 May 2013
(c) Skyhook Wireless, Inc. 2013 - Confidential 1
Internet of Things:
The Skyhook Perspective
Richard Sutton | Director, Geospatial | Skyhook
Skyhook Database: assembled to provide mobile location:
• Beacons db Currently contains:
• 750 million access points
• 12 million cells
• Growing 3% per month (mostly Asia,
Africa, Middle East (@05/2013))
the built environment is saturated with
internet-enabled things
access points raw positions
the built environment is saturated with
internet-enabled things
access points raw positions
the mobile environment communicates
with these things billions of times a day
location request intensity
Local Metro
cultural characterizations
cultural characterization: all scales
Is any scale too intrusive?
event characterizations
St Patrick's Parade
5th Ave, NYC
Large scale power outages (Hurricane Sandy (October 2012)
• Detection of missing beacon activity (over baseline)
Sunday Night (10/28-29) Tuesday Night (10/30-31)
event characterizations
event characterizations
BAA Marathon | finish line
2pm-3pm RQ signal set
Privacy and Utility Balance
• Security vs. Anonymity
• Convenience vs. Intrusion
• Opt in vs. Obligatory
(c) Skyhook Wireless, Inc. 2013 - Confidential 11