When
cell phones first came out, they idea of wirelessly talking to people was
revolutionary. Cell phones were
very large, bulky and weighed an extraordinary amount. Then, phones came out with SMS text
messaging. The ability to send
text messages wirelessly led towards a whole new trend of not only condensed
messages but condensed thoughts.
Later, the trend with mobile phones led toward email and functions such
as games and calendars. Recently,
the trend in mobile devices has let to advanced functions such as Internet
browsing and GPS navigation.
The
use of a phone’s GPS by external parties such as the police or the cell phone
company is a topic of conflict. Many
of us use our GPS to check in on Facebook, Foursquare or for geo-tagging but we
don’t realize that everywhere we go, we can be tracked. In some instances, people’s phones can
actually be tracked
Recently, in the U.S. Court ofAppeals’ case of U.S. v. Skinner, the court ruled that pre-paid phones can be
tracked without a warrant. Many
people believe this is a complete invasion of privacy. Unlike in the movies, not everyone who
uses a prepaid cell phone is a drug lord or assassin. Prepaid cell phones usually a less expensive solution
compared to a monthly plan. In the
same case, the government also ruled that a prepaid phone can be tracked even
if the person who purchased the phone does not know that it was GPS.
People often think that this is an
over reach of the government’s constitutional power. Right now in New York City, we can see a similar situation of
the government reaching further into people’s lives than some people would
like. The mayor of New York City
recently banned the sale of fountain soda over sixteen ounces. The thinking is that the obesity rates are
too high and will be lowered if people cannot buy large drinks. People view this the same way as cell
phone tracking. Most people do not
like the idea of having the amount of soda they can buy limited, however many
people agree that there is a chance it could help lower the obesity rate. The same thing applies with cell
phones, nobody wants to have their location tracked but tracking cell phones
could help catch criminals such as in the above-cited article. In this case, through the tracking of
prepaid cell phones, the authorities detained drug related criminals and seize
1100 pounds of marijuana.
With modern
day technology, tracking such as this gets easier and easier. The technological resources at the
disposal of the government are constantly increasing. People are also allowing more invasion by using sharing
their locations on Facebook and other online sites. This makes you wonder what the future holds in terms of
location tracking. Will the government
be tracking our computers via GPS soon?
So much has changed in the last ten years that there is no way of
knowing where we will be ten years from now.
