I AM!

Ooooooo... Track me! Track me! This should be really convenient for those over obsesive boyfriends who cheat on their girlfriends then relentlessly accuse them of the same thing. People will die over this tool. )

mlopinto2k1 you got me figured out!

mlopinto2k1 you got me figured out!

how can i double post when i wasn't logged in for the first one!!!

GRRRRR!!!!!!!!

I am really getting tired of opinion/BLOG pieces being listed under the NEWS section. You really need to stop doing this. Create an opinion section if you want this.

Ha, So now you have to turn your phone off when you go where you are not supposed to be because it only pings the towers when its on, that's a huge pain! ..... how much are prepaid go phones from gas stations?

rfid should be legal, law enforcement should have access to this stff, but the general public should not.

Hello big brother

just wrap your phone in aluminum ...
unwrap it if you need to call ...

Finally... a system that DOESN'T cost me an arm and a leg for tracking things. Never have to worry about where your geriatric parents have wondered off. About trust, I would not care if the people I trust knew where I was, I have nothing to hide. How much would this tech have been worth to you if your child was stolen? Cell-phone embedded belt/other apparel would be fantastic (although I recognize one of the first things "smart" criminals do is strip the child and give them different clothes )

I think this is a great idea, if a parent finds it necessary to know where their kids are, then they should have every tool available for it. Don't talk about trust, because parents know when kids deserve trust, and this tool wouldn't be necessary. But for those kids who obviously don't deserve this trust, they SHOULD be tracked and accounted for. It's like that commercial...It's 8pm, do you know where your kids are?

As for kids just turning their phones off, or wrapping it in foil...I doubt they would want to do that because it would block incoming calls as well.

I'm all about trust. Just knowing where you're kids phone is doesn't mean you know where THEY are nor what they are doing.

Some people are good with trust, some are not. This probably won't change that.

But it would be handy as heck for a lot of reasons...like coordinating picking a family member up, or hiking/biking/offroading etc. and going on various trails or faster/slower than the main group without worry of spending hours trying to track someone down.

CREEPY!!!!!!!
Freedom is over!!!!

this is more like:

"Please... add another $15 a month to your bill."

Gracias,
AT&T Marketing

I live in Japan and this service has been offered for years here by NTT and other companies. Anyway, while it can be a very intrusive service it can also be very good. In Japan cell phones are used by so many that it has become very difficult to find a public phone. Because of this, just about everyone has a cell phone to include very young kids. In most cases cell phones that are given to very young kids are purchased with a plan that will only allow them to call set numbers (ex. mom and dad, 911…). This service is very useful for them because if they ever become lost or abducted you will be able to find them if they still have the phone on them (hidden in a backpack or whatever). If you think this service is just a bad thing and your spouse will just use it to spy on you then DON’T GET IT. Others may have a use for it.

ummm ... Sprint and Verizon have similar plans. From personal use, I know Sprint only sends occasional messages reminding the user they can be tracked.

Yes, people can currently be tracked by their cell phone, but by the time the police authorize that action and get the phone providers help your kid could already be dead. This new service that AT&T is offering, while pricey, is a good thing for those that need it. All those that don’t need it or don't like it should just move on and not get it. If you get this service for yourself and your wife tracks you with it then: 1.) you were dumb for getting the service in the first place for your wife to track you. 2.) You got much bigger issues than your cell phone service.

I can see it now, all company issued cell phones will have the service enabled.

I wish they'd launch this service in europe! but with a more reasonable 500 unit limit! I work at a place where we educate people. Many of these people are still late teens and more often than we want, they'll borrow our stuff. So we've got gps trackers in various items to find them again, but these often cost more than the item to have. With this system we could just wire old phones up inside stuff. I'm sure we could get some cheap alcatel or nokia phones on ebay

But I wouldn't want it for my family if I had any to be honest. It kinda claims dishonesty and lack of trust. The foundation for paranoid kids. In the end they'll go buy prepaid phones (or stolen with prepaid card) and leave their own phone where their parents expect them to be. That's not nessecarily where I'd want to be heading.

i will be very interested in this service once my daughter becomes a teenager

We're getting pretty socialistic! Everything for everyone, noone owns anything, and anything you do everyone can know!
Great improvement USA!

socialism is not inherently bad. why do people insist on making a pariah out of anything that remotely resembles socialist ideas? if you have any kind of tax sponsored services (fire, police, EMS, public schools, Welfare) then that's socialism at work! social security even has social in the name! i'm not saying we need a socialist govt, but we can not pretend that it is an evil scourge that is 'unamerican' or whatever when we have socialist programs entrenched in our society. this isn't the cold war days anymore, people. let's get into the now and use wotever it takes to make our society a viable one and see if we can outlast the Romans!

I'm all for it. It's a subscription service so only those who want it can buy it. Some people here are making it out to be The Man forced against the user.

I would get it just for peace of mind and safety of my family. My wife and I have a great relationship. If my wife wants to find out where I am I have no problem with that.

I would advocate (almost demand) that I can turn off the ability to notify the cellphone user they are being tracked. If I am tracking a member of my family because they went missing the last thing I would want is to let anyone know the cell phone is being used that way. 2nd, if I give a cell phone to my kids it's with specific rules, both for their responsability and safety. The cellphone isn't theirs, I'm buying it so they can use it. If I want to take it away (for discipinary reasons) I have full right to. If I want to track them I have full right to. If they don't like it they don't get a cell phone. Since when did we get to a point where a parent gives their child a phone (for free or $200+), pay for the monthly service and then feel guilty when we talk of wanting to know where they are or take the phone away?

This is actually a good service.. You say trust? I say you have to earn it. This is not a good way for parents simply to track their kids, but to build the trust. You say leave the phone, and go away.. Ok commonsense somebody is gonna have to answer the phone were it's at, and I hope you would know the sound of your own kids voice. If it's used on a husband/wife.. Well if their not cheating, lieing, etc.. They have nothing to worry about, and if they have in the past this could be a good way to build back up the trust. Although the phone obviously can't say if theirs somebody there with them.

Not a bad idea until the system is hacked and we can track anyone we want. The watchers watching the watched!

We have similar GPS trackers in our company vehicles... Its good to be able to see whos been knocking off at 3pm daily, and driving all over the place for private stuff. If you get a company car, assume its being tracked. As for your kids... well, im sure glad i didnt grow up with this, and id like to think id trust my kids enough to not do this.

My girlfriend's ex is crazy as hell... shows up randomly, is an alcoholic, has wrecked 3 cars in the last 6 months because of it, has threatened to kill me on several occasions... and if you haven't figured it out already, he's an idiot too. He left his sprint tracking account unaltered after their break-up and for the last year, my lovely lady periodically checks where he's at if she gets a little nervous. So, call it stalking if you want, but we call it peace of mind If i had kids, i'd have this on their cell-phone accounts.