New Phone Uses GPS To Locate Your Contacts 147
Salvance writes "Palo Alto-based Loopt Inc. has announced an agreement with Sprint Nextel to immediately begin offering their cell phone mapping service to all 3.8 Million Sprint Boost subscribers (Sprint Boost is a service specifically targeting the under-25 market). This service will notify users when another subscriber in their contact list is within 25 miles, providing a real-time map displaying their contacts' locations. According to the article, the only apparent privacy safeguard is to provide users the option to 'temporarily cut out from being spotted by their friends.' Given a retailer's propensity to package together extra services, and the average user's lack of knowledge regarding their phone's capabilities, this new service seems ripe for abuse."
I hope that's configurable (Score:3, Insightful)
wow, that's every stalkers wet dream (Score:3, Insightful)
What about stalkers? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not worried about stalkers, personally, but this is the sort of thing that you might see being handed out to girls on college campuses or boys on grade-school ones.
Married couples could see this causing trouble.
Tony: "You shut tracking off for a few hours there. Where were you?"
Toni: "You're a freak. I'm leaving you."
Tony: "For the guy/girl/goat that you were off with when you went off the radar?!"
Honestly, though, it's kind of a cool feature.
I can't fib on my whereabouts :( (Score:4, Insightful)
How about they work on dropped calls and poor coverage first.
average user's lack of knowledge? nonsense (Score:3, Insightful)
Lack of knowledge about a phone? Get real. This is the under-25 crowd we're talking about. Do you think the 40+ year-old moms & dads are going to be the ones lining up for these products? And to a GenY'er, a phone is almost an extention of themselves. Ringtones, downloads, games, IM's, push-to-talk, voicemail, etc. are all an essential part of staying online.
That being said, I do think that there is potential for abuse. Stalkers, for instance. Or college profs following up on students too "sick" to attend class. (but plenty well enough to catch a movie or go to the beach, instead!) Also, how long before this information is subpoenaed by attorneys. (For instance, in auto collision cases -- if client was at a bar for three hours prior to a fiery crash, that doesn't look good.)
However, it could be a cool feature -- see who's nearby for a quick lunch meet-up. Finding your family/friends at an amusement park/mall/beach/etc.
Like nearly all technologies, it's benign. It's up to the user to make it good or bad.
Re:Well... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Uses: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Honestly now... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Honestly now... (Score:3, Insightful)
Er.. I think most luddites would argue that technology has kept us seperated, as the telephone, the TV, and the internet have directly contributed to the decline in face-to-face contact and communication.
The only reason this is a good idea is that it's a new idea. I can see a group of girls wanting this (at first), or some college buddies so they know what bar their friends are in when they finally finish that paper, but overall it will probably be of limited success. And once people start getting blocked, assuming they add the capability, it will damage relationships when people spot their "best friend" in the food court, but they're not showing up on Boost.
Unless you have something to hide... (Score:4, Insightful)
you have nothing to worry about.
But I think the government is very happy about this service. I'm sure the phone company would be more than happy to provide this information to the government, if requested, regardless of whether or not you agree to be tracked. Remember, if you irritate the government, you could lose your license to the radio spectrum on which your revenue depends.
After all, if you have nothing to hide why would you object to the government knowing where you are at all times? Don't you realize that this is for the safety of the children? Are you really going to object to technology that could help solve a kidnapping?
It is optional today. But not for long. As soon as the government figures out that this can be used to track everyone, in real time, it will become mandatory. They'll pass the law in the name of "protecting the children", or "fighting terrorism", etc...
Re:Honestly now... (Score:2, Insightful)
I just hope that the ability to (easily) track others will stay limited to subscribers of this and similar services.