RSSSprint to Allow Child Tracking
By Ed Oswald | Published April 13, 2006, 11:55 AM
Sprint unveiled a new service Thursday that will allow parents to track their children via cell phones in an attempt to attract more families to the carrier. Parents would be able to see the location of their children via a map on either a computer or a cell phone.
Accuracy of the reading would vary from as little as two yards to as many as several hundred yards, according to Sprint.
Using GPS technology built into cell phones for use in emergencies to help 911 personnel pinpoint the location of callers, the Family Locator feature would cost $9.99 USD per month. The service could be installed on 17 phones in the company's lineup, however the mapping function could be viewed on twice as many phones.
Parents could instruct the service to send a text message at certain times of day to confirm the locations of their children. Additionally, children would know when their parents are checking up on them -- the service would notify the child via text message.
Family plans have become a large source of revenue for many wireless providers. As many as 6 out of every 10 new subscribers come as part of a family plan, according to recent data. Analysts say Sprint has underperformed in this market, with only about a 12 percent share of all multi-line plans.
However, such a service may be a tough sell; it's estimated only two percent of current mobile subscribers would be interested in people-locating services.
Disney also plans a similar offering when it begins renting space on the Sprint network for its cell service in June. Pricing for Disney Mobile has not been announced.
at the moment in england its £10 for 3 shows which is still to much
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|hah .... This only means most kids won't bother with cell phones and get some other gadget to stay in touch with friends .. some will find a way to hack it , some will have their friend use it and forward calls etc.
These kids are not stupid . Teens will find a way around almost anything you throw at them ..
Now , I think it will be great for ''children'' **pre-teen**..
The idea doesn't bother me . I'm for it . Whatever works ..
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|Screaming headline: Pedo-Hackers breach Sprint
(AP) Sodomy, Tennesee-- A group of pedophile hackers managed to access the Sprint cellular network system utilized by parents to track their children's whereabouts.
btw: am i the only one who would delight in seeing Nancy Grace do the perp walk? Maybe even have Paula Zahn comment,"I just know she's so guilty: those bulging eyeballs are a dead giveaway!"
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|One of these days someone is going to have to start paying attention to the digital privacy rights of minors.
People go nuts when they find out ATT and co. are letting the NSA look through all their stuff. But there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with parents using GPS tracking with their kids cell phones, or putting keyloggers and such on PCs - not to keep them off of some XXX site but to get their passwords to spy on their email/im conversations.
At least adults know (or should be expected to know) when their privacy could be compromised - kids have no idea in most cases.
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|Parents have every right to know where their kids are anytime they please.
Stop whining, when you are old enough to have kids of your own you'll thank the folks that invent tech like this.
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|What kind of nonsense is that? Minors do not have the same rights as adults, and they ABSOLUTELY DO NOT have any rights to privacy from their own parents.
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|As long as parents are ultimately responsible for their children's protection and behavior they must be the final arbiters of that childs rights to any privacy or priveledges of movement/communication.
Only when a minor is no longer a minor and bears responsibility for his own protection and behavior will he have any moral or legal grounds to insist upon privacy.
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|I'm responsible for my children's welfare - until they are of age, it's absolutely reasonable for me to be able to keep track of my childrens' whereabouts, IF I SO CHOOSE. As they get older and show they are responsible, they get more privacy, more priviledges, etc. But remember that these days, a lot of kids are getting phones at a very young age - (9 years old for example) so the ability to find them IF they get lost in a mall (it does happen, sadly) is extremely useful.
As for children not understanding, I'd point out that most kids know more than their parents about technology.
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|Guess what, Bush most likely already has the NSA spying on your whereabouts (as an adult). This way, when you say something negative about the administration or whatever he deems inappropriate, not only will he have your conversation, he knows where you are, so the gestapo can come pick you up.
:-)
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|This would suck if the boss started using this..
So, what was your mobile number again?
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|I sense alot of ticked off teens when they see a txt from their mom seeing where they are.
"I was at the firggin basketball game MOM, why you always gotta be checkin' on me... daaaang"
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|Now they wont' have to ask, they will already know..
So how was the friggin basketball game over at your girlfriends house, son? Did you get a lot of hoops?
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|..sister, brother, teacher, parole officer (doh!) they know where you be now! (yes, purposeful slang)
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|Now we'll always know where YOU are.
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|Ha! I will TELL you where I am. I have no problem with that, AT ALL!
Location Count: 1
Latitude: 33.9052
Longitude: -84.4598
There!
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|Big Brother (or Mother,) is watching!
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|And it will take about 5 minutes for any half-witted kid to figure out that they just need to lend their phone to someone who is going to be where they should be -- and about 10 minutes for some enterprising kid to start charging kids to take their mobiles to school / library / sports / etc.
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|Until the parent decides to call their child and then the gig is up...
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|Ahh yes young grasshopper but that is what call forwarding is for....
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