----- Forwarded message from David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- From: David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:05:12 -0400 To: Ip ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Subject: [IP] Where R U? Text service tracks teens X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.733) Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Begin forwarded message: From: Brian Randell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: July 20, 2005 3:42:30 AM EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Where R U? Text service tracks teens Dave: From today's (UK) Guardian: >Where R U? Text service tracks teens > >Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent >Wednesday July 20, 2005 >The Guardian > >It is a familiar dilemma for parents of teenagers testing new-found >independence - do you sit at home fretting over their after-school >whereabouts or call their mobiles and risk a tirade against over- >protectiveness? > >The answer, according to one company, is a hi-tech apron string >based on the mobile phone location tracking techniques used in >police investigations. > >The new KidsOK service, sold in shops including Boots and Bhs as >the summer holidays start, allows parents to use their own mobiles >and their children's to "discreetly" locate wandering offspring (or >their phones, at least) to within about 500m in built-up areas. > >Instead of dialling their teenager's number, parents subscribing to >the service send or "ping" a text message including the child's >name to a special mailbox. Within 60 seconds, they receive a map >(if they have a picturephone) or a description showing the position >of the youngster's phone. > >The system uses technology which traces the location of a mobile by >pinpointing it within the three nearest mobile phone masts. Because >the masts are clustered in built-up areas, the method is most >accurate in cities and gives a much less precise picture in rural >areas. > . . . . Full story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1532026,00.htm cheers brian -- School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = [EMAIL PROTECTED] PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
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