Most people have cell phones. Their ubiquitous presence makes the ongoing development of new services for use with cellphones a natural outgrowth of this technology. This week’s article points out benefits and concerns regarding the GPS chips that are placed in many cellphones. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment about the article and my questions.
Does your cellphone have GPS capability? Do you know others who have cellphones with this feature? Do you agree with the comment about people your age being fond of sharing your comings and goings on the Internet? Is a service like Loopt or Buddy Beacon available here in
14 comments:
I am sorry to say, but I don’t have a cell phone because I lost it in school. Also, as some of my friends had stated, GPS usually doesn’t work here, especially for phones. I like the idea of using GPS to find someone, because then if someone had lost a phone (like me), one of their friends can use GPS to find the phone. But I don’t like the idea of watching or stalking someone with a GPS, because that would be violating someone’s secrecy or privacy. As I said before, my friends say that GPS doesn’t work here and even if GPS worked here in this country, I probably wouldn’t know because I have never used a GPS before. If I had the GPS system in my phone, of course I would use it, but not for stalking or anything like that, but for meeting someone, or finding someone who is lost or something like that. I don’t really care about having a GPS or not because it’s not of a great deal to me, but if someone told me to use it, I would just pay enough amount to use it probably twice or thrice a month. When we use this GPS, I wish I could block out people who I don’t want to watch me.
I also don’t have a phone right now because mine broke. My old phone did not have GPS capability but the new one I’m getting might have it. If I do not get a phone with GPS I wouldn’t really care. I just need a cell phone that works (and a good one). Cell phones like iphone, Motorola companies and even Samsung have GPS capability the only sad thing is that it does not work here in Amman. The idea of having GPS on a cell phone is a really creative and useful idea but also dangerous people can track where you are if you don’t want them too or if you lost a phone they might be able to find it first and steal it. I don’t know if Loop or Buddy Beacon is available in Jordan I don’t use it. I would pay for it but not always if it’s expensive maybe once in two weeks or more. It would be very useful to do delete or remove a contact on your GPS list. I don’t know a lot of nascent services for cell phones but I think BlackBerry 8820 and AT&T Tilt have nascent services (I’m not sure).
My phone doesn’t have pre-installed GPS however if I went into a Nokia store I could get the GPS tracking system in my phone. When I have bought my last 2 phones they have each asked me whether I would like GPS installed for extra cost or not. Many of my friends have the new iPhone, which has built in GPS system. Personally I do not share any of my comings and goings on the internet. None of my friends, that I know of, use the internet to specify comings and goings. In my knowledge this service is not available in Jordan however I am not 100% sure. If it were available I would find it a waste of my money and would not subscribe. I like to keep my life as private as possible, and to have anyone that has this service and my number being able to look at their phone and find where I am does not make me at ease. If I were to get this service I would not pay more than 10JOD a year. There should be many privacy risks. You should be able to have the power to turn off your GPS so no one can find you, which would make me, personally feel more secure. But this also means that the great hackers of the world can tap in to your phone and find out more that they could before. I do not know of any other of these services, in this article it was the first time I had heard of using your GPS to track someone else, I only knew that you could use it to find yourself and your way.
I believe that many teenagers of my age would be fond of having this capability on their phone, because we are social predators that enjoy having the sense of control that comes from knowing where everybody is. Another reason is that the GPS capability would become a new trend, a new way of telling people who your friends are and who aren’t. What I mean is that you can block people with the GPS capability, like blocking someone on MSN, a way of telling people that you dislike them. I would not use the function if I had it, because my cellphone is turned off most of the day. However, if I would use my phone more frequently I would be tempted to pay Loopt or Buddy Beacon a maximum of 3 dollars a month to have the GPS capability installed on my phone. Some people might be dissuaded from buying the GPS capability out of fear that their privacy would be invaded. However, the privacy concerns are trivial compared to the amount of information that we give away daily anyway. We send our IP Address (an internet code unique to your computer) out to people everyday that can track you down to the building you live in. Another example is the information we give to a taxi driver when going home or our phone number that’s available in the yellow pages, all much easier ways to acquire information on ones whereabouts compared to hacking into the computer mainframe of a high paying phone company. In Jordan, I believe that, and probably in most countries, the GPS capability will need some time to become popular. Although we do know where everybody is with the GPS capability, calling someone or text messaging someone is the whens wheres, whys, whats and hows. If they would add features similar to MSN, smiley faces telling others whether you’re available or not, the GPS capability would work much better and become popular much quicker than without them.
I’m not exactly sure if my cell phone has GPS capability, however, I have seen a phone with such a feature (the iphone) that helps track areas and locations, but not people. I do not fully agree with the comments from people my age since I do believe such a feature could be extremely helpful and possibly a beneficial security measure to locate lost or missing people, however, I also believe it can become a security risk if people learn to break the system and view where “blocked” people are. I’m pretty sure such GPS services do not exist in Jordan but if they were readily available, I would consider using them only after 8 months of their introduction to the Jordanian market so that most “bugs,” especially those concerning security, are fixed and worked out. I’m not sure what the exact price is for services such as WAP or MMS but I know they are in the “cheap” range so I would probably pay 10-20% more than the standard price of WAP and MMS services. Privacy risks involved with GPS services may include a willingness to accept the fact that a phone can constantly be monitored, even when a status is set to “block,” and a willingness to accept the fact that hackers may devise ways to breach the system and learn of a person’s whereabouts. I have only heard of one other cell phone service called “Push To Talk,” which was supposed to be introduced to the Jordanian market about 4 years ago. I’m not exactly clear on the details of such a service however I remember it was supposed to change cell phones so that they would resemble “walkie talkies” where you could simply hold down a button and transmit a message that would automatically be intercepted and heard by all other cell phones with the service.
Privacy Lost: Hytham Bakir
My cell phone doesn't have any GPS capabilities; it is too old. The only person that I know that I think has GPS capabilities is Nadim. I agree somewhat, quite a few people do like to share their comings and goings on the internet and internet based systems but most don't. I don't think that there are any services like Loopt or Buddy Beacon available in Jordan, there might be though. If there was a service providing this technology then I would like to have a cell phone that would work with it; it would be cool to know where everyone was. I would be willing to pay no more than US $10 a month for a service like this, anything more isn't worth it. There are not really any privacy risks that we should be concerned about because people can only see where you are, not what you're doing or where you're going until you actually go there. GPRS internet for cell phones is the only other service that I know, and it is provided here with almost all all cell phone providers (Mobilecom/Orange, Fastlink/Zain).
My cell phone doesn't have the GPS capability. I don't think I know anyone that has this feature since this is the first time I even hear about it. Well, I personally don't know where they got that from, about people my age posting their whereabouts on the internet. I mean, I don't do that and none of the people I know do that. I've heard of one website where you're able to post where you're heading though. I don't think there's a service like Loopt or Buddy Beacon here in Jordan, I bet it's going to arrive soon though. If it was available in Jordan, I doubt that I'd be using it. If I did use it I would probably pay $3 a month, like in the article; it seems reasonable. I personally think this service is risky safety-wise. First of all, you can never know who's tracking you. You can't block all the creeps and perverts in the country. They can get your number from anywhere; it happens all the time. Then they can use it to find you, which is even scarier. And another one is the parent issue. They probably can find a way to track you even if you block them, and if u do block them they'll know; so you're probably screwed both ways. I can't think of any similar services that I heard of. This is probably the first one I hear about from its kind.
Privacy Lost
My cell-phone does not have a GPS capability and it seems to be a cool idea. I haven’t seen any other person who has a GPS capability on their phone. I agree that people around my age do like to share our coming and goings on the Internet. Mostly people use Windows Live Messanger to know the comings and goings of one another. I don’t think that a service like Loopt or Buddy Beacon is available in Jordan. Personally I wouldn’t really need to use it since I don’t really need it. Some privacy risks are that people in the company may be able to hack into your GPS and know what you’re going to do. I wouldn’t really want to take that risk and pay for the service.
Sasha
My phone does have GPS capability, but not in the middle east. It works only in the states. I have several friends who have this function but I don’t think anyone was aware of the option of tracking. I disagree with the teenagers’ comments because the beacon buddy can be very useful. The tracking device can help find lost people or plan according time. According to my information, Jordan does not have tracking programs like beacon buddy, but I am sure it is soon to come. If I had the option of tracking people, I would use it to find friends that didn’t answer their phone or I would use it to have parties and when my parents came near the house I would plan accordingly to clean the house. For a service as this one, I would not be willing to pay more than 5JD a month. Having this service, you run the risk of being watched by people you don’t want to and having people hack the program and find out where you are, even if they are blocked.
"Privacy lost"
I have a cell phone with the GPS ability but I rarely use it and I doubt that they have a detailed map about Jordan. I know a lot of people who have GPS on their phones but I don't know anybody who uses it, though I know several people who use the GPRS ability to access the internet. I agree with the comment about people your age being fond of sharing your comings and goings on the internet, and I believe that there is nothing wrong with doing that as long as you don't release any personal information or information that could be used against you. I also doubt that there is a service like Loopt or Buddy available in Jordan. For the companies in Jordan it is not worth it to make such a service because so few people would use it because messaging and calling is still cheaper. You don't always call your friends to know where they are, either they are in the area where you are or they are not, Jordan is really spread out and there are few places to hand out, so this system would not be needed here really. If such a network were available I "might" use it, but I doubt it. I would also be willing to pay a max of 1 JD a month for such a service. People should also be concerned about other people knowing where they are, such a network would be an ideal way of knowing where someone is and plan an attack on them, so it would be a risky thing if you have enemies in Jordan. I do not know of any other nascent services for cell phones here in Jordan.
By: Nadim K. 9th grade.
My cell phone does not have a GPS system, but if it did I doubt I would use it. I think most of my friends do not have a GPS on their cell. In my opinion I think that a GPS system such as beacon buddy will be useful with finding lost people and for parents to know were their children are. I don’t think there is a GPS system in Jordan but I think it is sure to come soon. If I had a GPS system I would do a variety of things to keep me from trouble, such as using it to see were my parents are. In addition I would also track down my friends if they wont pick up the phone. For a system such as this one I will be willing to pay about five JD a month. But using this system has many risks such as having stranger knowing were you are or being hacked. Therefore I would have to think about it before I actually pay for it.
Post a Comment