Seems this will be an add-on feature to Google Maps. You can track individuals just like in a spy movie.
Excerpt: "Millions of people will be able to track each and every move by friends and family through their mobile phones, thanks to a new feature launched by Google yesterday.
“The new system dubbed ‘Latitude’ uses a digital map to show automatically exactly where a loved one is at any time, sometimes pinpointing their location to a few metres. Worried parents will be able to check up on where their children have got to after school, friends can meet for a quick drink if they see they are nearby and spouses will be able to see if their partners really are working late at the office.”
A friend has a Helio phone which he loves. He’s been trying to get all of us to get one, and one of his big selling points is something called Buddy Beacon. Sounds like the same thing. You can pinpoint exactly where people are, or at least where their phones are.
We all just looked at him like he was crazy. Why the hell do I want to continually broadcast where I am? If I want you to know, I’ll call you. If you want to know where I am, you call me.
Everyone needs privacy. I don’t need to know where my friends are at all times. If I want to know, I can send them a text, or call them. Back when I was a kid my mom always knew where I was (mostly ) because I had to tell her, and if my plans changed I had to call her up and tell her.
Our privacy as citizens is very rapidly disappearing, and this is just another example. I think it’s a terrible idea
I agree, but I don’t see this as an issue. No one is forcing this service on anyone. You have to actively sign up for it, and you can disable it at any time. It doesn’t impede on anyone’s privacy because one must voluntarily turn the service on and off; ergo, they are making a conscious choice to not make their location private.
I’ve got an iPhone, and I use Loopt, which is pretty much the exact same thing, minus Google branding. Comes in handy more than I thought. For example, a friend invited me to accompany her to a party she was going to last week. I was coming straight from work and would be arriving later than she was, and being the idiot I am, I forgot to ask where exactly the party was before I left.
I could have called her up and asked for directions, but if anyone’s ever done that, you know how hit or miss it is. I’ve gotten everything from “turn at the big tree… no, it’s like, a tree near other trees” to a word for word recitation of Mapquest. Turns out, it was easier to “ping” her (ask for her location) on Loopt – which gave me her exact location, and driving directions to it.
Sure, it’s not always that useful. And quite a bit of it is “novelty” factor. But a violation of privacy? This pings a “1” on my 1-10 scale of “things we should be afraid of.”
I realize it’s a service you have to activate, but to me it just reeks of getting closer and closer towards people knowing where I am at all times. The very second my students all know exactly where I am at all times my life will be over. They already know what onsen and supermarket I live near and that’s bad enough, I can’t have 'em showing up at my house or while I’m out at a restaurant! Sorry, just being a paranoid teacher who needs a social life
Hey, and no one’s disputing that. I certainly wouldn’t want clients stalking me, but I guess I just don’t make the association that this voluntary service (which has existed for years, sans Google branding) will lead to some kind of involuntary tracking by Those People.
I don’t like the idea. Heck, I’ve resisted getting a cell phone for years because I don’t like being that accessible to everyone (though I am now forced to get one because of the nature of my job…)
I can also picture some insanely jealous husband using this to track his wife or something else creepy of that nature.
They are already modifying the cellular system to locate you within a few meters, in case of emergency, or just in case Homeland Security wants to spy on you.
So what they’re really doing is trying to cash in on a service they are already mandated to offer to governmental authorities. I see this commercial spinoff as a non-issues as far as privacy rights.
As far as privacy from government scrutiny, we already lost that years ago.
The problem for me is that some of Those People are my friends! I just don’t need or want them knowing where I am, but, just like cellphones and MySpace, when something gets branded and becomes mainstream, a certain social momentum builds up and eventually I’m the weird one for resisting this “voluntary” technology. Then “weird” turns into “rude” or “hiding something” and things go downhill rapidly.
Just last month, several of the people in our group were gently bullied into getting Facebook accounts, because it’s so much easier to manage a Facebook group to plan our monthly dinner dates than to use email. So they can choose to get a Facebook, be excluded from our get togethers, or ask someone else to do more work to email them updates that are posted to the Facebook group. That’s social pressure, done with the best of intentions, to get on board with the latest “voluntary” technology fad.
The main reason I don’t have those things is I spend enough time on this Board here as it is. The last thing I need is yet another Internet toy to take away more of my time. The Dope Board is a powerful-enough jones.
But I’m mildly wary of this Google Latitude thing myself. Actually, I do see how someone could feel it’s yet one more step toward the complete loss of privacy. Big Brother getting you to feel comfortable with this feature, then another just a little closer, then another etc. But then, I knew people who said that with the advent of telephone answering machines, too.
But wait! Maybe they were right! Considering the progression in devices since then. :eek:
Apparently, this service does not work with iPhones. Jay Leno had a great joke about the Google service, saying that every man in America is now rushing out to buy an iPhone.
Not yet. Google says “coming soon”, and I suspect it won’t be long. The technology is there with the iPhone (and like I said, has been implemented before), so I suspect the delay lies somewhere in either the writing of the app, or in receiving approval from Apple.
I am surprised by the choice of name. Dell has been selling laptops under the “Latitude” label for years. While trademarks for different products are usually okay, given that both are computer/tech related seems a little too close. What if Google wants to later sell portable monitoring devices under the name or some such? I’d think Dell would complain. (Cf. Apple computers and Apple music.)
Didn’t Google learn from the German “gmail” fiasco?
I backcountry ski on my own. If I get injured to the degree that I can not make it out on my own, I will die. Having a cell phone with me means that I can at least call out. Having a cell phone with a tracker on it means that I will be easier to locate and rescue. For that purpose, Google latitude is a good thing.
) because I had to tell her, and if my plans changed I had to call her up and tell her.
I certainly wouldn’t want clients stalking me, but I guess I just don’t make the association that this voluntary service (which has existed for years, sans Google branding) will lead to some kind of involuntary tracking by Those People.