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more on Where R U? Text service tracks teens

From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 11:45:18 -0400



Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: July 20, 2005 11:20:51 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Where R U? Text service tracks teens


Hi Dave:

At 10:38 am -0400 20/7/05, David Farber wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: July 20, 2005 10:07:27 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] Where R U? Text service tracks teens

Dave,

Well, let's be precise.  The service tracks *phones*, not teens.
Unless the parents plan to actually keep establishing voice contact
at intervals (which would hardly be "discreet"), all they know is
where the phone happens to be, not the teens to whom they wish to
attach the electronic rubber bands.

The kids will have workarounds for this in no time.  I can
already see the underground ads:

    "Making the rounds of the clubs?  Attending a rave?  Planning a
     secret rendezvous?  Natasha's Track-o-Rama phone service is the
     answer!  For a modest fee, Natasha will safely hold your cell
     phone and carry it on a predetermined course to various
     "parent-safe" locations (libraries, school athletic events,
     G and PG-rated theaters, etc.)

     Phones will be left fully activated, and incoming calls will
     divert to your voicemail message, which may be customized as
     necessary for best effect.  Special care is taken to ensure
     that your phone is kept in strong signal areas to avoid
     suspicious dropouts from the cellular networks.

     Give your parents the comfort level they desire, while
     not cramping your own style.  Contact Natasha at ... "

Of course, then the next step will be devices that *lock* onto
the teens' bodies.  All of this will just do wonders for
parent/teen relations, we can be sure.

I couldn't understand why Lauren reacted this way to my posting,until I realised there was a mistake in the URL I gave for thearticle (htm instead of html - sorry about that) and so he presumablyhad not seen the whole text.

From this one finds that, not surprisingly (at least here inBritain), the scheme is deliberately set up so that:

"The KidsOK service is based on encouraging trust and cooperationbetween parent and child, striking a balance between giving kidstheir freedom and knowing where they are."
....
mTrack says its security is tight to ensure no one but parents andcarers can track children. Parents must undergo Home Office-approved checks before they register, and any child tracked has toopt in to the service before it can start.Reassuringly for those who feel the whole idea represents parentalcontrol gone mad, children can also opt out at any time, byswitching the service off or simply turning off their phone.


The correct URL for the full text is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1532026,00.html

Cheers

Brian



--

School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle uponTyne,

NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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