Last week Google launched a new service named Google Latitude which allows registered users to track people, with their permission, using Google software and the GPS device in their mobile telephone. The ‘tracked’ individual’s location appears on Google Maps after the ‘tracker’ has logged into Latitude.
This service is similar in many ways to conversations Facebook were reported to be having linking its mobile site to the GPS device in phones allowing members to see the current locations of their friends.
Good idea or Orwellian Big Brother?
One of the statistics used regularly in presentations available for download at http://www.daemondigital.com/ is that of 1 in 8 marriages in the US being derived from an online meeting. If past use of the web created 1 in 8 marriages, could future use of Google Latitude be the catalyst for 1 in 8 divorces?
As an alternative, is there a less sinister humanitarian upside with Latitude helping to locate disaster victims on land or at sea with Google’s equally new Google Ocean’s. Furthermore, will parents sleep better at night if they can see their teenagers whereabouts online at the touch of a button?
Find out for yourself by downloading Google Latitude at www.google.com/latitude
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