Earl Mardle has a piece commenting on location awareness in mobile phones, and the applications to which it is already being put. As ever, it's excellent, and well worth a read.
The December 15 edition of Newsweek reports that the Europeans are trying to balance the technological capabilities with legislation, preventing location data being used without consumer consent, except in the case of emergency calls and police needs. Mhmm, and if you believe legislation will save the day, good luck, because the US and UK are planning to use such data for anti-terrorist actions; and in today's world, we are all suspect. Oops. [A Networked World: Just because I'm Paranoid ...]
Just think what happens when you have to show your national ID card to get a mobile phone, and the identity of the phone is added to your record in the national database. Welcome to the police state.
And one for the paranoid parents: just imagine what happens when the security of the system is compromised, and information about where your child is can be seen by exactly the people you are so paranoid about in the first place.
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