GPS phones easing parent fears

More and more phones have GPS (for getting a fix on the phone's physical location), and more and more cellphone companies are offering geolocation services. Including kid phones (see the New York Times, 12/21/06), which are easing parents' concerns and raising those of privacy advocates, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The article leads with the story of a Northern California family with two kids 5 and 6, each with a Migo, "a small phone for kids with a built-in computer chip that communicates their location." Their parents clip the Migos to their kids' clothing and use Verizon Wireless's Chaperone "location awareness" service for $9.99 a month. Sprint's Family Locator service costs the same. At first glance, it looks like there's only an upside, "but privacy advocates worry that carriers will collect location data that could be used against consumers," says the Mercury News. And some services will want to supplement subscription revenue with advertising, a growing part of increasingly multimedia cellphone communications.