Last night I got an email sent to my phone from a buddy I went to Dental School with. It said something like, "Do you want to see where I am, download Google latitude." Because he used to be an IT guy I figured it was safe. I downloaded the program. It put Google maps on my phone and then asked me if I want to see my friend and have him see me. Awesome.
I went ahead and selected to let him see me (this can be turned off at anytime). The next thing I know I see his profile picture on a map of New York. He was at home.
If he were at a restaurant it would have shown the name of the restaurant and given me the number of the restaurant. I can think of many ways I could use this to play little jokes on my friends. Heehee.
The technology available to us is quite incredible. This is a cool way to stay in touch with your friends. It also shows you status updates and links to Google talk (really the only IM I use regularly). But....
Here is my issue with this. If all I have to do to let my friends track my location is download a program that takes 30 seconds, it is probably possible that people can see where I am regardless of having a program.
I know my phone has a 911 GPS tracking so they can send a signal to my phone to activate it then they can find me if there is an emergency.
My bet is George Bush had been tracking me for years. He was always jealous of my whit, and good looks ;)
Bottom Line. I let the people I love and trust see where I am if they want. It's a fun little toy.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Google Latitude, Very Interesting
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2 comments:
Sorry - I will not be downloading this program. Neat in a sense, but I like my privacy and will send updates via twitter.
Yeah. Thats kinda the reason for the post. We really no longer have privacy. People know where we go on the net, they at anytime can find you via your phone. At any given time are recorded on a couple of cameras if you are in the city. Your house can be seen from Google maps. The amount you pay in taxes for your home is available to anyone... and so on. It is kinda scary.
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