Laura Holson reviews how services like Loopt and Buddy Beacon let friends keep track of each other's whereabouts using the Global Positioning System chips available in many mobile phones.
This is viewed as a boon for the Millenial Generation, who seem to not mind sharing their location, and other, details about themselves online. It may prove useful for parents tracking the location of cell-phone-toting children, and for (grown) children tracking the location of their wander-prone, Alzheimer's-diagnosed parents.
Others seem more circumspect.
"We don't know what the implications are," [Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation] added. "We seem to be getting into a period where people are closely watching each other, and there are privacy risks we haven't begun to grapple with."Buddy Beacon is marketed to employers to keep track of employees.
Q. Social networking meets mobile mashup, or Loss of Privacy 2.0?
Photo: Ocean (black) from Helio.
