Case Study:
You may not have children yet, but chances are that you someday will. Given the number of predators looking for children, parents today are more concerned for the safety of their children than ever before. CELL PHONES FOR THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN Most adults have cell phones, including those who also have children. And now children are quickly becoming the largest group of purchasers of cell phones and cell phone services. According to M:Metrics (a wireless research company), Sprint alone has 2.4 million subscribers ages 13 to 17 in the United States. And that doesn’t include children who have cell phone services with AT&T, Cricket, and the many other cell phone service providers. Even children as young as four years old are getting cell phones. For these young children, many cell phone manufacturers provide cell phones with only four (very large) buttons. The parents of these youngsters program the cell phone by providing a different phone number for each large button. That way children don’t even have to remember a phone number, just which button to push. Moreover, new cell phone services are available that allow parents to track the location of a child using global positioning system (GPS) technology. Such a service, called Family Locator, is offered by Sprint. The service is for families with multiple phones on the same service plan. When signing up, parents can specify which of the individual phones they would like to track via GPS technology. Then, using the Locator function, a parent can view on-screen (or at a secure Web site) the location of a particular phone, and thus the location of the child using the phone. If GPS capability isn’t available at the location of the child, the system can still determine location based on the nearest cell phone tower. Parents can also program a child’s phone to immediately send a text message upon safe arrival to school, a day care center, or any other location. The child doesn’t have to take any action to send the text message. Using GPS technology, when the location of the cell phone matches the preassigned text messaging location, the phone automatically sends the message. TRACKING YOUR CHILD DRIVING A CAR Horizon Technologies recently released a GPS trackingbased technology that many parents are installing in the cars of their children. Called Millennium Plus, the system allows an administrator (a parent, in this case) to access a secure Web site and view tremendous detail of the car on which the device is installed. This information can include speed, direction, and real-time maps showing the car in motion. Further, the Millennium Plus allows parents to disable the starter and lock and unlock doors remotely. 14,15
Q1. After reading this case study, you may immediately think of yourself and your parents’ ability to track you. But think about parents with a 10-year-old child. Is it an invasion of that child’s privacy? Why or why not? Up to what age do you believe parents should be able to track the location of a child? Justify your answer.
Q2. With a service like Family Locator, you may never again lose your cell phone. You could, when signing up for cell phone service, specify that you would like to track yourself. If you ever lose your phone, you could log on to a Web site and determine its location. Is this a service you would be interested in? How much would you be willing to pay each month for this service?
Q3. When a parent does a location search on a child (based on the location of the child’s cell phone), should the child’s cell phone notify him/her that a parent is looking for him/her? Should parents disclose when they are tracking their children or is this a parental right? Justify your answer.
Q4. Think broadly for a moment concerning other applications of these sorts of tracking technology. What if a parent didn’t want a child to go into a certain store? Could this sort of tracking technology be used such that the parent would receive a text message if the child entered that store or parked near that store? Has this taken tracking capabilities too far? Why or why not?
Q5. Think about your partner (girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever). Would the two of you be willing to establish reciprocal service that allowed each of you to track the other? Why or why not?
Your answer must be, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins on all sides, APA format and also include references.