Subscribe
Speaking of police states, as I was, it’s interesting to see a parallel growth in private surveillance; a geek rather than a police state. Mobile phone locations are cheap and easy to track and locators, which enable you to see where the mobile is over the internet, are mostly sold as child protectors (order mobile tracking here). But I’m sure that doesn’t stop the odd suspicious spouse from tracking their partner. And I guess it doubles up as an anti-theft device.
Tracking is just one of a host of technologies that are set to increase our spending on mobile phones by up to 26 per cent and almost all have privacy issues. ‘Presence’ is a new buzz word married to instant messaging that’s about checking each other out in increasing detail. Mobile phones will come to life, tracking location and consulting electronic diaries, falling into silent mode as appropriate and telling your favourite big brother where you are, who you’re with, what you’re doing, for how long, where you’re going next and what route you’ll be taking (after all your phone will navigate the way). In many ways it’s more threatening than a police state – anyone can be big brother now – and many will rush to adopt technology in haste only to repent at leisure. After all, Bluejacking’s rapidly gaining popularity, so there are plenty of geeks out there who want to watch you just for fun… who says they’re all friendly.
AD: ChildLocate - Locate your child’s mobile phone anywhere in the UK for only £1.35 per week.
