February 4, 2009 by Jack Fox
Search engine giant, Google has released a new application that allows mobile phone users to voluntarily share their whereabouts with their friends, family and whoever else they want to know. Mobile phone users across 27 different countries will be able to automatically inform all and sundry of their whereabouts via Google Latitude. You select who views your location and you have the ability to go offline whenever you want, which is just as well because otherwise this would all have been a bit sinister.
Google clearly recognise that tracking software is going to be a hot-button issue for some and have attempted to pre-empt concerns, “We recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we’ve built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application.” – Excerpt from a Google blog post
Privacy issues aside, this application is predicted to be a hit with parents, who will be able to locate their kids at all times, it is also thought to have practical if not popular applications for businesses – the party could be over for anyone who’s ever invented an offsite meeting in order to go and play golf.
The software will run on Blackberrys as well as any phone using the Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile Operating systems. However, strangely, the software will only be available to some Android based phones.
Related posts:
- Privacy Advocates slam Google Latitude
- Google Mobile App Launch delayed by Apple engineers
- Google Voice Recognition Software recovering from slow start
- Google introduces new ‘kill switch’ for Android apps
- Google’s Android operating system targeted by malicious programme
- Facebook concedes to privacy critics
