D11.1: Collection of Topics and Clusters of Mobility and Identity – Towards a Taxonomy of Mobility and Identity

Title: DEFINING THE CONCEPT OF ‘MOBILE’ IN RELATION TO MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES

Related to mobility, ‘mobile’ refers to something that is able to move, so it is the opposite of ‘static’. Bodies, transactions and artefacts have the ability to move. Besides, (wireless and wired) technologies have become ever more mobile. The well know expert in information technology and dataveillance Roger Clarke distinguishes four possible interpretations of the term ‘mobile’ in mobile technologies, which are presented hereafter (Clarke, 2003). 

Firstly, ‘mobile’ can refer to movement to ‘another location’: “Devices may be ‘mobile’ in the limited sense of being able to be in a different location at any given time from that in which they were at one or more previous times. Note that this can be the case not only with devices transmitting and receiving by wireless means, but also with devices that use physical connections, particularly portables, but also handhelds, and wearables” (Clarke, 2003);

Secondly ‘mobile’ can mean that transmission is possible from any location: “pursuing the previous characteristic to its most extreme, the term ‘mobile’ could mean that a device could be anywhere, or, more carefully expressed, a device might be in any location from which transmission to another device is possible. Note that although there is a wide and increasing range of choices as to where to position a wireless device, there is also a great deal of scope for a relatively portable device that depends on an old-fashioned physical connection” (Clarke, 2003);

Thirdly, ‘mobile’ can be relative to the earth’s movement: “a further interpretation of ‘mobile’ is in the more substantial sense of currently moving relative to the earth’s surface, but nonetheless capable of sustaining data transmission, e.g., as a passenger in a plane, a train, a taxi, or a car, or, less safely, as the driver of a car. This is true to only a very limited extent with physically-connected devices. Note, however, that it is also only partially true in the case of wireless devices. That is because all wireless technologies have geographical limitations, and ‘hand-off’, e.g. from one cell to another, is fraught with difficulties” (Clarke, 2003);

Finally, the term ‘mobile’ can point to devices that are portable and capable of wireless transmission: “yet another sense of the term ‘mobile’ is to refer to devices that are designed to be easily and conveniently portable, and to rely on wireless transmission, possibly to the extent that they do not support cable-based connections.” (Clarke, 2003).

As Clarke points out, mobile technologies are not per se wireless.

Locational information

Locational information is an important term in the context of mobile identities. What is meant by locational information? According to Bennet and Crowe (Bennet, Crowe, 2005), locational information is:  

• ‘Geospatial: The position on the globe defined in terms of longitude, latitude and altitude.’ (Bennet and Crowe, 2005, p 33)

• ‘Civic:  The locational coordinates that are provided as a result of political decisions about border and boundaries made by international and state actors, such as time zones, country, street, postal address etc.’ (Bennet, Crowe, 2005, p. 33)

• ‘Descriptive: This category of locational information is referring to the type of location such as school, hotel, airport, city square, and so on’. (Bennet, Crowe, 2005, p. 33) Note that, according to the authors, this category seems to be of interest to profilers since it adds important contextual information.

Location data does not imply that you are on the move. If one stays fixed for a period, this location may be registered as well Of course, each of your moves and movements can leave traces behind, with or without your knowledge.  

After introducing some conceptual and sociological issues of identity and mobility, we can now explore the concept ‘mobile identity management’.