I have been studying what the industry is doing in this regard. The
fundamental issue I see is that there is no way to "opt" out of the service.
There will be Location services brokers that will do regular queries of your
location at regular intervals. The purpose is to market to you based on your
LOCATION. For instance, you drive by the local coffee house, and your cell
phone alerts you to a special running at the house, and a coupon for 10%
off, if you show them your cell phone. You can make a query for a movie you
want to see, and it will give you times to the three closest theaters, and
driving instructions.
What is really sinister is you will be able to choose a setting from a
service that will alert you if someone in your phone list is within, say 300
METERS (this one's for you Alberto), of you.
The benefits is that if you get in an accident, you only have to push one
button, and EMS will magically appear to your location. You can also give
your children a cell phone, and set geographical "boundaries" that they can
cannot cross. You would be alerted if they cross the boundary. You can also
track their location, binding coordinates to friends houses, or school.
This really is a move towards transparency, since the data collected will be
publicly viewable to all (This would include any government official or law
enforcement). Anyone should be able to track where another person is at at
any time.
Nerd From Hell
BTW - If anyone is interested in seeing a business proposal related to this
technology, respond to be privately.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Sharkey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 7:23 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Big Brother Is Calling You...
>
>
> It seems they're pushing locators more for cell phones. Not
> entirely sure
> I'm interested in having people know where I am all the time...
>
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/022/business/Something_to_wa
tch_over_you+.shtml
Jim
"What can change the nature of a man?" - The Nameless One
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