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Google wants to know where you are, make spying on friends easier
Here's how it works. You can install Google Latitude on your mobile phone so it can report your geographical position. Or you can use it on a computer by adding Latitude to your iGoogle homepage. Then when you're friends are looking for you, they can see where you are on a map or contact you through Google Talk, Gmail, or SMS. It could be a great way to find out if you're just around the corner from the coffee shop where your friend is sitting.
Of course, it could also let you find out when people you know are walking into a health clinic, gun shop, or some other place they'd rather not broadcast to the world. So Google has made Latitude an opt-in service. If you don't sign up for it, your location won't be broadcast. And when a friend wants to add you to their list, you'll receive an email asking if you want to grant them the ability to track your wherabouts.
Google Latitude is available for phones running BlackBerry, Symbian S60, or WIndows Mobile operating systems. Android and iPhone versions are due out soon.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsStuart HallidayFeb 4th 2009 9:46AM
I can see parents using this service to discover where their kids are hanging out.
Or why not place a cheap phone with this service on it, into a car or piece of luggage surreptitiously and monitor the travelling of your spouse or partner?
Lots of companies with paranoid employers could give out a Work phone?
I bet Courier companies and the like would love this service!
Of course what's to stop the Police asking Google to track people or find out where they were last week?
Insurance companies would love to know where cars or people are so they can potentially adjust their policies and charges to suit the criminal areas the personal phone passes through.
It's a nice idea, but I feel anyone over 30 with be seriously distrusting of this type of service. ;-)
This new technology needs to be trusted. And they haven't yet proven they can keep or earn that trust. So this'll take a long time to be adopted.
KarlWFeb 4th 2009 10:09AM
This is going to make hide and seek that much harder
TgoodFeb 4th 2009 12:06PM
I do see it helping the police. I also see it helping the rapist track their victims.Or the robbers know for sure you are not home. IT"S STILL STALKING!
mejones269Apr 25th 2009 7:48AM
It is WRONG!!! What happened to a person's right of PRIVACY? It will
bring about more harm than good. I bet the number of divorces skyrockets!
mgh_caApr 25th 2009 5:41PM
You can adjust your settings so that people can only see what country you are in or what city. You can also have people see exactly where you are. Its entirely up to the user. I dont see any privacy problems. If you dont want people to know where you are, dont use the service. If you have the service and you are going somewhere that you dont want people to know about.......just turn it off!