The technology to track via mobile phones has been around for a long time. Despite this, most telecoms have been slow to offer this ‘service’ to a general public. Most probably this delay has its background in the need for more sofisticated administrative and technical solutions rather than ethical questionmarks.
The telecoms company Sprint has now begun to offer its Family Locator service
Sprint Family Locator gives you and your family peace of mind in the palm of your hand.
Locate Your Children in real-time, from either a registered “Parent” mobile handset or from the web.
Safety Checks let you know that your children have arrived at home or school on time.
For Only $9.99 a Month have quick, easy, and secure access to the location of up to 4 Sprint-Nextel handsets.
The emphasis is on paranoid parenting (Furedi 2001) i.e. to scare parents and create insecurity so that a need for a solution. This makes accepting the solution offered (in this case the family locator) is the only sensible thing to do. Never mind the fact that spying (even on your own children) is wrong. That those spied upon will devise creative solutions to avoid being spied upon. And that all systems such as these once implemented will be abused through some form of function creep.
Earlier similar posts: Spying on Cars and Privacy, GPS and Children.