Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
--Police
Globe has a system wherein a subscriber (A) can track the location of another Globe subscriber (B) via text. A will need to request B’s permission to track her. If B approves the request, A can track B anytime, without B knowing the exact moment that she is being tracked.
There are safeguards, like the approval of B, the option of deactivating the tracking permission anytime she doesn’t want to be tracked, and the tracking system only gives a general location, not a specific one, but this opens up privacy issues. We as a people with our cellphones being our extended limbs, would be virtually under constant surveillance. It may also be used to commit a crime under RA 9262, which prohibits stalking (placing a woman under surveillance intentionally and without lawful justification).
True, this technology would be useful for suspicious wives who want to spy on their philandering husbands, but this would be dangerous for the rest of us who want to go wherever we want without having to constantly look behind our backs.
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Smart also launched a similar project years back. I think they even launched an advertisement with a scenario of locating a missing kid.
The technology, if I am not mistaken, involves triangulating the source signal from the user’s mobile phone with at least 2 reference points, or radar towers of the network provider. With the location of their communication towers already at hand, they can determine the approximate area from where the user’s mobile sent or received the message/call. Theoretically, the more cell sites covering a particular area, the more accurate the location can be pinpointed.
This now leads to a clash between maximizing the use of such technology, versus the concept of protected zones of privacy. Indeed such issue is addressed in a situation as between two users giving permission to be located by the other, but if utilized in an abusive manner by the State against their so-called “enemies”(real or presumed to be), surely advocates of constitutional right to privacy would go beyond just raising eyebrows.
Still, I would say that it would be interesting to see the technology utilized by our Law Enforcement.
Imagine the police determining the location of the kidnappers, from just a call/message for ransom from the perpetrators; or locating the warehouse or drop-off site of prohibited drugs from the exchanges of calls/messages by the dealers/pushers.
Laws should provide the groundwork for the legal and permissible ways of utilizing this technology, especially if used by the states or its agents, or even by private against another.
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