Ethics Question: Mobile Phone Location

[JackCase]

[ QUOTE ]
I just saw in a store you could pay for a service to allow you to request the location of a mobile phone, and get a street map returned via internet or mobile phone showing, within 50 yards, where the phone is.

They sell it as a protection for parents to know where their kids are, but it blew my mind this was even available.


[/ QUOTE ]

The plan I saw was called the Sprint Family Plan, or something like that. To use it, you have to download the software into each phone and enable each phone with the password. You can have up to 4 phones on the plan. Every time you "locate" a phone, the "located" phone receives a text message saying that it was just tracked.

[AAAA]

when i worked at an auto parts dealer years ago, the parts runners always thought they could goof off...if you sell your time to your employee, why would you be upset if they wanted to know where you were?

[Shrug]

Tracking employees

[stigmata]

Under existing DPA laws I'm pretty sure there is no way you can do this without the express consent of the owner of the phone, otherwise it's a prosecutable offence.

It could still be abused though. An obvious way is to use a mobile phone as a cheap tracking device by e.g. hiding it in someones car.

[alThor]

[ QUOTE ]
Do 10 year olds have mobile phones? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Only about half of 'em:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39...9282815,00.htm

[BadBoyBenny]

[ QUOTE ]
No, neither would I, but if it is legal for employers to infringe on people's privacy in other ways (e.g. drug tests etc) then I don't see why this should be different. Obviouslly I'm saying that this should only ever be done with the express consent of the person with the phone.

A legitimate example could be a taxi service, where they want to know where the taxi's are (presumably there are better GPS solutions for this, but you get the point). In a situation where all your employees had mobile phones anyway, and you needed to know generally where they were sporadically, this could be a quick/cheap solution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tracking employees on the clock is one thing. This would probably be very useful for a courier service or something similar. I think the civil liberties lawyers are more concerned about a situatin where an on call employee is required to have a company cell phone on at all times during off hours.

[Phoenix1010]

Ethically: It's wrong to track your SO without his/her knowledge, it's a pretty clear invasion of privacy. If one feels the need to do this, that relationship probably has some big issues. The whole idea of people being able to track the whereabouts of everyone else just gives me a bad vibe too.

That kind of technology is pretty cool though. I downloaded a gps and mapping program into my phone recently, and it's awesome. No more printing out mapquest directions.

[benfranklin]

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I think the civil liberties lawyers are more concerned about a situatin where an on call employee is required to have a company cell phone on at all times during off hours.

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If that's a condition of employment, you know that going in. You take the phone or you don't take the job. What has that got to do with civil liberties?

[BadBoyBenny]

[ QUOTE ]
If that's a condition of employment, you know that going in. You take the phone or you don't take the job. What has that got to do with civil liberties?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, IMO being on call should mean that someone is available to work whenever is necessary to fulfill their job description, it does not imply an employer's right to know the whereabouts of an employee when he is not on the clock. If having a cellphone to respond to emergencies is a condition of employement, but it is not specified that this will be used to track employees during non-working hours, then this is not known by the employee going in. I have no idea whether this is realted to civil liverties or not, I used the term because of Shrug's article.

[Peter Harris]

christ, i'm glad i have nothing to hide. this [censored] makes me weep.