Cellphone as tracking device

People's thinking about the pluses and minuses of using phones to track their locations is changing. GPS (Global Positioning System) on phones has been around a while, but so far the significant privacy concerns have outweighed the upside, according to a thoughtful commentary in the New York Times, as attractive as the latter can be: "Maps on our phones will always know where we are. Our children can’t go missing. Movie listings will always be for the closest theaters; restaurant suggestions, organized by proximity. We will even have the option of choosing free cellphone service if we agree to accept ads focused on nearby businesses." But then there's the hypothetical 16-year-old customer described to the writer by a Verizon spokesperson, who "said it was one thing for the customer to imprudently send out her e-mail address to a stranger, and still another for her phone to reveal her home’s location." Yes, we may be able to track our kids when they're carrying these phones, but so can others. And mobile social networking targeted at youth (e.g., Boost/Loopt, Dodgeball, and a new Dallas-based one called ublip) further complicates the discussion, while increasing the attraction of GPS-enabled phones for young people. The New York Times article goes into the unregulated realities of this business, offering great background for parents trying to get a handle on what mobile tracking and socializing means for children's (and everybody's) privacy. And moving beyond mere socializing, here's the BBC on yet another application toward the all-purpose cellphone: phone as "smart wallet," carrying around our financial info, to be transmitted over the phone, at a concert ticket office, etc. (yet another reason to be scared about losing my phone!).