Phone Tracker Keeps Tabs On Mobile Users

There were a bunch of fear mongering articles earlier this week talking about how the new E911 features on mobile phones would let your carrier know where you were at all times. Of course, who needs to worry about the phone company when anyone you know can check up on your location by checking in with your mobile phone. At least that seems to be the plan of the mapAmobile service from Carphone Warehouse. Of course, they say, to avoid the privacy issues, they ask the person being spied on whether or not it's ok to share their location info with the requester. With all the fear over the "dangers" of camera phones, it sounds like people are just gearing up to complain about the "dangers" of location based technology. Just imagine the zone of terror created when (gasp!) the two come together in the same phone?!?!? Honestly, as a tool, having location based info can be useful, and this sort of backlash is typical from people who don't understand the technology and are afraid of it. However that doesn't mean it shouldn't be very clear to the user how any location data is being used, and to give them control over it.