Comments on: lbs tracking services: stalking with a smile?

By: Child_Safety_Products

Child_Safety_Products — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:45:47 +0000

Information on GPS Child Locator Products at http://www.giftsonic.com/gps/gps-child-locator.htm

By: me63 / Matt Edgar » Cutting to the heart of the mobile location debate

me63 / Matt Edgar » Cutting to the heart of the mobile location debate — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:01:47 +0000

[…] Read the article […]

By: Kelly Goto

Kelly Goto — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 07:57:04 +0000

Maintaining self-sufficient and confident kids is definitely first and foremost, and most parents will agree. Disabling the tracking ability of a LBS device is not as much of the issue as buying into the privilege of having a mobile phone in the first place. Meaning parents are hoping the trust goes both ways, if their kids are allowed to have a device and make calls, they also have to agree to the terms and conditions, which in this case include being able to ‘locate’ the carrier. I believe most LBS-companies and saavy parents are aware of the great lengths teens will go to maintain their freedom, to lie about their whereabouts and/or sneak away to parties and friends’ houses.

So trust goes both ways - parents hoping that their kids will not lie about their whereabouts, and also will be honest about carrying their devices and not ‘tricking’ or disabling the location-tracking feature.

For younger kids, having a digital tether to their parents allows a greater sense of freedom to both - knowing the parent can reach the child at any time and if need be pinpoint the exact whereabouts. And to Joe’s point above - it is only stalking or intrusive if it is without consent. As with anything, the extreme case is paranoia and fear, and hopefully these parents will gain some peace-of-mind with new location-based services.

By: mobilejones

mobilejones — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:33:28 +0000

The foundation of any good and workable relationship is trust. A concern for parents should be in building a self-sufficient, confident and trustworthy kid. Most parents are strapped with increasing workplace demands versus time with their kids. Lots of kids end up with mobile phones through guilt purchases or the need of a busy parent to feel secure that they can reach their child.

These services play to the worst fears and tendencies of people and parents. Your child is not “more safe” because you can track them. They are more safe if they have the skills to be self-sufficient and confident.

As for the research angle, consider that more, by several degrees of magnitude, kids are harmed by people that they know and even within their family than are harmed by stranger danger. If selling to fear and some how abdicating your parental responsibility to a telco is your thing, you may be in for a surprise there too.

Kids will gladly accept your gift of a mobile phone and spend about 5 to 10 mins on the web or with a friend learning how to disable the tracking capability. And so it goes.

By: Joe Pemberton

Joe Pemberton — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 06:47:56 +0000

Thanks for bringing in the research to this, instead of just ranting (as others have done with the same topic). Interesting stuff.

Calling it “stalking” is a good way to make a catchy headline, but is this really stalking when we’re talking about people’s own children? Hardly. Liz, it’s only “invasion of privacy” when it’s intrusion. There’s nothing intrusive about knowing where your kids are.

Cheers from a parent whos child wants her own phone. =)

By: Carnival of the Mobilists 33 at m-trends.org

Carnival of the Mobilists 33 at m-trends.org — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:09:06 +0000

[…] Kelly Goto writes about the introduction of LBS into personal and family life and put some interesting thoughts forward whether this is an interesting move forward: “… are families ready for the shift? Is this considered a luxury to be able to track, or is it an invasion of privacy? Is the tracking accurate enough in urban areas and are their kids going to be OK with the lack of privacy in return for the liberty of having a mobile device of their own?” Kelly talked to actual parents and reveals some interesting insights in this post. […]

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 02:16:30 +0000

I’m just glad that MY parents never had access to anything like this ;-). This strikes me as a huge invasion of privacy. I hope I never feel the need to succomb to it with my own kids (though when my kids are 16 and sneaking out at night to meet the people they met on whatever the new “myspace” is, I may be tempted). zug