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Let Goofy Track Your Children

Rio writes "The Walt Disney Company unveiled a new wireless phone service that allows parents to track their children on a map using Global Positioning System technology, according to Local 6 News. The new "family friendly" service, called Disney Mobile, allows parents to decide who their children can call and when, the report said. The phone service will launch in June and has not been priced yet."

291 comments

  1. HA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think Goofy should keep his muffs to himself.

  2. coming next by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 4, Funny

    implants based on GPRS/GPS to control where your kids go. if they leave their "safe zone", a tiny electric shock is delivered straight to their brain!! 1 year contract required.

    --
    An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    1. Re:coming next by jrockway · · Score: 0, Redundant

      What this ammounts to is a huge invasion of privacy. Won't someone please think of the children!? :)

      --
      My other car is first.
    2. Re:coming next by koweja · · Score: 0, Redundant

      The real question is can the phones be turned into shock collars that zap the little bastards when they go out of bounds?

    3. Re:coming next by Flower · · Score: 5, Funny

      We have. Upon reconsideration we're increasing the voltage.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    4. Re:coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
      What this ammounts to is a huge invasion of privacy.

      Insightful ?? are you kidding me ?? Are you telling me, that as a parent I do not have the right to track who and what my children do. ? I am paying for the cellphone, but have no right to track usage.

      You obviously have no children. Not only is it my right, it is my OBLIGATION as a parent to know what my children are doing. Did you see any of the child porn hearings this week ? Did you see that kid who testified that his parents let him go to some 40 year old guys "computer camp" after talking to him online for 6 months. Is anyone surpirsed that this 40 year old guy was interested more in the 13 year olds body than his computer skills ? You see kids doing all kinds opf crazy crap on webcams, and the parents always have the same response "I had no idea what he was doing". Well I do. No computers behind locked dooors in my house. Cell bills gone over closely with my sons in my house. Three honor students in my house.

    5. Re:coming next by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Unfortunately, your children will probably be turning tricks for crack once the shock of finally entering the real world passes by them. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

    6. Re:coming next by jftitan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But what prevents them from being shocked to death if they are kidnapped?

      Really, if I had this so called 'implant', and I were kidnapped, then leave the safe zone... would this shocking stick keep shocking me if I stayed out of the 'safe zone'?

      But then, if I were kidnapped then I would rather be dead.

      (mind you I am drunk at this hour)

      --
      "Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
    7. Re:coming next by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 1

      um....why are you getting drunk and reading slashdot?

      --
      An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    8. Re:coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say "You were obviously never a child.", but I don't believe that's physically possible.
      Do you remember what it was like being a child? Children live for the moments they have away from their parents - it's what helps them become independant people later in life, not having to depend on your salary for the rest of their lives.

      Agreed, there are some people who are completely insane, looking to do unthinkable things with children. But does it reflect well on the parent, who does not know where their child is by parental knowledge. Do you know who your child hangs out with? I'm assuming you do, going over their cell phone bills - hey, while it may not be arguably teaching them the "right" lessons regarding independance, at least you're taking the initiative as a parent. I have no respect for a parent that would use this as a crutch, to let their own parental intuitiveness slip.

      Ever notice how as a kid, mommy always knew? Well, I don't know about everyone, but that was usually the case in my house. I am positive she doesn't have to digitally stalk me, because she trusts me; by getting a third party to track your child, you're showing a lot of trust in them.

    9. Re:coming next by chicagotypewriter · · Score: 1

      It makes grammatical errors and dupes easier to get through.

    10. Re:coming next by binarybum · · Score: 1

      where in the brain? what kind of response are you looking for?

      --
      ôó
    11. Re:coming next by SeeMyNuts! · · Score: 1


      How about a Disney Vault for your kids. Disney lets you see them once every 15 years.

    12. Re:coming next by jftitan · · Score: 1

      I agree... being drunk, at this hour, WHILE knowing my kids are asleep, AND safe, is better than not knowing anything about my kids.

      At this point reading slashdot drunk, makes the experience interesting and possibly rewarding.

      While I may accept the arguments I maybe a bad parent now, at least, I'm able to accept critisim compared to most. (if I wasn't under the influence, then I would be completely opposed.)

      Well... its going to be another wonderful day.

      --
      "Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
    13. Re:coming next by Nutria · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, your children will probably be turning tricks for crack once the shock of finally entering the real world passes by them. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

      With totally non-existant evidence, you are assuming that AC is smothering his children.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    14. Re:coming next by Andrzej+Sawicki · · Score: 1

      Yeah, so their death rays can become more powerful. Remember Cartman!

    15. Re:coming next by tdmf · · Score: 1

      Is it from Apple ? Grin......

    16. Re:coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree wholeheartedly. To the other posters, I don't know what you mean about teaching them bad lessons or not letting them be kids. Just because you know they're at their friend or girlfriend's house, doesn't mean that you know what they're up to. Also, I dont' know why you're worried about the "impression" it makes on them... it's not like you have to tell them that you're going over their cell phone bill with a fine-toothed comb.

      Intuition be damned, I'd rather have some way of knowing where my kids are if they suddenly turn up missing. As far as information of privacy goes, children don't have all of the same rights as adults do, seeing as how their brains are not as developed and capable of making decisions as adults (of course, there are excepts, I'm just stating it as a general rule).

    17. Re:coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Unfortunately, your children will probably be turning tricks for crack once the shock of finally entering the real world passes by them. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

      another mod on crack. I CARE about my kids. I take an interest in them. I do this old fashion thing called "taking to them". We talk about politics, news, current events, music. I've taken them to Rock n Roll concerts when they were 8 years old. They know more about "the real world" then you'll ever know. They re not angels, neither am I. But they know I am watching, and that coaches their behavior. I've taled to them about drugs, alcohol, and other choices. When the timne comes, I hope they are prepared, because we have talked. Myu job is not to be their friend. It is to be their father. I hope when you have kids you see that. Sometimes the biggest show of love is saying "no".

    18. Re:coming next by murdocj · · Score: 1
      Unfortunately, your children will probably be turning tricks for crack once the shock of finally entering the real world passes by them. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

      Right. His kids would have a much better chance of surviving if he just ignored them and let them do whatever they want, because teenagers know everything and don't need any adult supervision.

    19. Re:coming next by supersocialist · · Score: 1

      Since nobody else seems to be doing it, I thought I'd say it sounds like you're doing a good job.

    20. Re:coming next by dotgain · · Score: 1
      With totally non-existant evidence, you are assuming that AC is smothering his children.

      All this and more, from "The voice of all reason"

    21. Re:coming next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just wanted to say "Bravo!".

      I've been saying for some time now that parenting in the US has gone down the shitter. Glad to hear that there are some who still take responsibility for raising their children right.

    22. Re:coming next by pagebt · · Score: 1

      I salute you and intend on raising my Son (now 2 years old) in the same fasion.

    23. Re:coming next by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Of course the part which makes you feel bad. If it were the part which makes you feel great, the effect would be the opposite of what was intended :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    24. Re:coming next by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      control where your kids go. if they leave their "safe zone", a tiny electric shock is delivered straight to their brain!! 1 year contract required.

      Hey, that's better terms than my regular cell phone contract! I'm gonna switch.

    25. Re:coming next by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      That's why I use a pre-paid account. No one but me goes over my bill (only on-line, no paper) and I still have no problems. I use my computer privately because I would rather not have someone looking over my shoulder when I work (it's a deer-in-the-headlights effect for me, and I have tried many times to get over it with no success). My parents trust me to not do things that I'll regret later, and I don't. If you trust your children, they'll respect that most of the time. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. Or would you rather have your kids poking around in your stuff? If you want to raise them in an environment of surveillance, then who am I to judge since I'm only 15 and would be biased against such an environment but I do support those who raise their children in an environment of trust and privacy.

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    26. Re:coming next by rebelcan · · Score: 1

      Just as long as we don't put this guy in charge of the vault.

      --
      God is dead -- Nietzsche
      Nietzsche is dead -- God
      Zombie Nietzsche lives! -- Zombie Nietzsche
    27. Re:coming next by walstib · · Score: 1

      What about the part of the brain that produces hallucinogenic sights and sounds? Not the LSD type of hallucinations, but the part of the brain that can produce paranoia, delusions including voices and sights, similar to what sleep paralysis victims say they encounter. I would think that would be the temporal lobes, but I may be wrong. Anyway, that ought to keep 'em in the safe zone.

      --
      The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps. - Benjamin Disraeli
  3. This is a great idea... for something else by tajgenie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would LOVE to have a gps reciever that I can track remotely! I would put it in my car and if someone steals it, screw lojack; I'll wait till they cross the border and deliver my own brand of goofy-the-cop justice!

    1. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by stephenisu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wouldn't wait quite that long... Odds are if its stolen its staying in the states, and multiple states at the same time depending on who is buying the parts..

      --
      Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
    2. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now why bother with this for car tracking? Google for gps gsm tracking and you got quite a few that will give you some better hardware, thats not Goofed about by Disney.
      Heck, some of the versions I found let you shut down the engine, or remote start your heater. (Probably using OBDII to do whatever engine things you want done.)

    3. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by gihan_ripper · · Score: 1

      Nice idea, but this service is already available. See GPS North America. Of course, they'd probably take issue with you using their information to beat the bejesus out of the criminal.

      --
      Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
    4. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by HansF · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Basicly you can do this without a gps.
      Mount a covert muted cellphone in your car, and when it's stolen ask the police to contact your cell service provider to trace the phone.
      There was a howto the net somewhere regarding this topic, but I can't seem to find the link.

      --
      --> Insert Funny Sig Here
    5. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by gkhan1 · · Score: 1

      That would not be anywhere near as effective as a gps. Cellphones work using a network of basestations, so the best any phone company could do would be to track it to the correct basestation (well, technically, you could triangulate the position if you picked up the correct radio-frequency, but that's way harder). With a gps, you can track it to the correct centimeter if you'd like.

    6. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by RedQueen.exe · · Score: 1

      Right idea, but I think there are a couple corrections that need to be made. Triangulation is moreso about making sure you're getting signals from 3 different towers, than it is picking up the right RF. Also, publically-available GPS is not that good (but certainly still good enough to do the trick anyway).

      Now, I might be wrong on this, but doesn't a non-gps phone have to be in or making a call in order for them to track the signal via traingulation?

    7. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by kevinT · · Score: 2, Informative
      I would LOVE to have a gps reciever that I can track remotely! I would put it in my car and if someone steals it, screw lojack;


      $299 - here http://www.gpsonsale.com/vehicletrackingdevices/in dex.htm/

      There are other models going up to several thousands of dollars - my favorite -->$595 uses SMS messages to communicate where its at. Cheap tracking with better transmission capabilities (SMS will often get through in bad cell coverage areas when a call would not).

    8. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by s0l3d4d · · Score: 1

      actually, cars would be a brilliant use for that.

      far better place than e.g. passports for having the trackable microchips.

    9. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by RJNFC · · Score: 1

      Aside from the other comments, I think OnStar already does this.

    10. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by gkhan1 · · Score: 1

      Iäm pretty sure that a cellphone occasionaly sends a quick message home just to check up. On the other hand, if you do want to find it, why not just call it and there's your signal :D

    11. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by tengwar · · Score: 1
      For GSM, the network will only ping it every few hours. Other than that, the network doesn't care which cell you're in within a region, as it will broadcast a request to get in contact over a region when it has an incoming call. However there are location based services which do work as you suggest - actually I believe it's a silent SMS which is used to trigger the phone to get in contact. LBS seems to work pretty accurately now - about a hundred yards, I think, in the town where I live.

      Disclaimer - I work in telecoms, but not this area.

    12. Re:This is a great idea... for something else by gkhan1 · · Score: 1

      Thank you for the clarification, it was nice to hear from someone who actually knows what he's talking about :P

  4. Good ol' Steve by xwipeoutx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Already innovating for his new pet company :o)

    Just waiting for the rants about people should be looking after their children...not technology.

    1. Re:Good ol' Steve by hhawk · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's for Teens.. i guess, like hmm I didn't know there was a branch of the Library at the shopping Mall!!

      --
      http://www.hawknest.com/
    2. Re:Good ol' Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people who rant about using technology tend to be the same ones who oppose any parental control over their children's lives.

  5. Oh great.... by DwarfGoanna · · Score: 4, Funny

    Queue the "queue the 'why the hell can't people parent their kids anymore'" posts...er....queue.....um.. here.

    --

    "You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo

    1. Re:Oh great.... by ben0207 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Damnit! Its "Cue"! Not "Queue"!

      Sorry, I don't know why it makes me so angry, it just does.

      --
      cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
    2. Re:Oh great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      Actually:
      Both of the real dictionaries agree. A cue is not only a stick used to play snooker, but also "A signal, such as a word or action, used to prompt another event in a performance, such as an actor's speech or entrance, a change in lighting, or a sound effect." The whole "cue the people saying x" thing is taken from plays and film directors. Queue makes a bit of sense in the role as well, but cue was the original and best working word.

      :P

    3. Re:Oh great.... by ben0207 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Ah yes, but this is an example of cue as in the way a stage director might cue someone in. "cue Romeo", etc.

      To use one of the very links you posted:
      "To give a cue to; signal or prompt."

      --
      cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
    4. Re:Oh great.... by SirSlud · · Score: 1

      Its pretty much both in this context. Cue meaning alert or tip, Queue meaning line up or start a line of people ... given that cue is derived from queue, this is an abiguous use where both modern day definitions are suitable to the context.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    5. Re:Oh great.... by ben0207 · · Score: 1

      Fair enough.

      *hangs up Grammar Nazi uniform and heads to nearest pub*

      --
      cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
  6. not sure about this... by zuki · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't know why, but reading this gives me a funny feeling that this type of technology could be easily perverted for some nasty stuff it wasn't meant for at all.

    Nothing in particular, but the concept of this thing sounds a bit....twisted.

    Time will tell.

    Z.

    1. Re:not sure about this... by Kangburra · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yep, parents PC is stolen and Mr Perv can track the kids until someone changes the password.

      I hope the GPS can be turned off at the handset, like parental override.

      --
      Common sense is not so common
    2. Re:not sure about this... by leereyno · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually I would argue that it has already been perverted.

      A necessary part of being a kid is the ability to do an end-run around one's parents. This is necessary because it creates a balance of power that is very important to the development of that kid into an independent functional adult. Can you imagine how you would have turned out if your parents had actually been able to control EVERYTHING you did and experienced? Can you imagine the level of dysfunction? The disconnect from reality that would result? Just think of all the crap they tried to sell you that seems like a cold cruel joke and an insult to your intellect today. Now imagine being 30 years old and only just now realizing you've been had!

      This kind of technology brings us one step closer to a world where parents really CAN make their children into vessels for their own neuroses. The only effective means of mind control is information control. Control what people see and hear and you control what they think because you control what they think about. Developments like this make me fearful for the future of our civilization. If the day ever comes when your average kid never realizes that his or her parents are full of shit, then I'm afraid we're done for.

      Lee

      --
      Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
    3. Re:not sure about this... by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Can you imagine how you would have turned out if your parents had actually been able to control EVERYTHING you did and experienced?

      Great argument, wrong technology.

      This service (probably!) does not beam mind control rays into your head; it tracks where your child has been, and who s/he has been calling.

      "Stepfordism" and Trust but verify are two totally seperate concepts.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    4. Re:not sure about this... by knarf · · Score: 1
      Just think of all the crap they tried to sell you that seems like a cold cruel joke and an insult to your intellect today.

      Care to elaborate? I have no memory of my parents giving me 'crap that seems like a cold cruel joke today'. I don't think my daughter will have these memories either as I do not try to 'sell her crap'.

      I will also refrain from trying to track my child(ren) with the 'friendly' help of Eisner's Disney (he might be gone but his soul(less company) remains) which will literally try to 'sell crap' to my children, preferrably through some insidious marketing campaign aimed at the children to get them to nag their parents. Those damn Disney club (many versions) folders don't even burn well, I generally add them to the fire (woodburning stove) when there is a good blaze going.

      --
      --frank[at]unternet.org
    5. Re:not sure about this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Technology That Could be Easily Perverted For Some Nasty Stuff It Wasn't Meant For:

      Printing presses.

      Telephones.

      Automobiles.

      Television.

      Movies.

      The internet.

      Hello Kitty (under development)

    6. Re:not sure about this... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      "... Trust but verify ..."
      OMG! former President Reagan is alive! and posting on slashdot.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    7. Re:not sure about this... by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      it tracks where your child has been, and who s/he has been calling.

      Or more accurately, it tracks where the child's PHONE has been.

      If I'm a kid with paranoid, distrustful parents who give me one of these phones, and I want to rebel against them by playing hooky from school, I'm just going to put my phone in my locker and then jet. Or better yet, if school policy allows students to bring their phones into the classrooms, give my phone to a friend to carry around for the day so my psychotic mom and dad don't think I was just standing in front of my locker for 6 hours straight.

    8. Re:not sure about this... by owlstead · · Score: 1

      Nice argument, but the kid could always "forget" to take the phone with him/her.

    9. Re:not sure about this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny.. I have a completely different take on my childhood, and suspect my children will too..

      as a child, I thought everything my parents told me or wanted was crap..

      as a teen - mid 20something I was SURE thet most of what they told me was crap

      As an adult.. I see that most of it was actually good, solid advice, to my benefit, with a foundation of years of experience and looking back at THEIR parents good advice, and the mistakes THEY made as a kid/teen.

      I can only hope my children will follow the same cycle (I pretty much assume untill they are old enough to really understand the world, they will take everything I say as wrong!)

    10. Re:not sure about this... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      If I'm a kid with paranoid, distrustful parents who give me one of these phones

      That presumes the parents are paranoid & distrustful instead of caring and desiring to dole out freedom as the child demonstrates the ability to handle it.

      Sorta like crossing the street. You don't (or shouldn't) let a 6 year old cross a modestly busy street by him/herself, but you would let a 10yo do it.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  7. This isn't particularly technically innovative by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Since 9/11, the government has mandated that all mobile phones be able to pinpoint their location. This is simply Disney extending their capability to see where you/their phones are to you.

    From http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/parents_bosses _gps_track_cellphones.htm

    A Government Mandate

    In 2001, the Federal Communications Commission ordered mobile telephone carriers to add technology to handsets that pinpoint their location. The idea was to make it easier to track 911 calls.

    Some carriers adopted technology that used signals from cell phone towers to determine location. Others, including national carriers Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Nextel, went with GPS.

    Although Nextel is the only national carrier to offer GPS services, all new phones sold by these carriers are GPS- equipped. By the end of 2005, companies that chose GPS are supposed to have converted at least 95 percent of their subscribers to the phones, although some carriers have indicated they will ask the FCC for an extension.
    1. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So the idea behind this product is: The government is tracking your kids, why don't you?

      --
      09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
    2. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think the Enhanced 911 service you are writing about had much to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks; wasn't the mandate in place before the attacks? For example, there is an article from 1999 speaking of the fact that Enhanced 911 will lead to GPS in mobile phones.

    3. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know someone who still uses a old(and very small for its age) cell phone that is hard to get an exact location :-)

    4. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by ECELonghorn · · Score: 1

      RE: Since 9/11, the government has mandated that all mobile phones be able to pinpoint their location. First, this has nothing to do with 9/11. The issues of E911 has been around long before 9/11 happened, here's a wired news article from 1998 for instance: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,9502,0 0.html. RE: This is simply Disney extending their capability to see where you/their phones are to you. Second, IIRC most cell phones right now are not GPS equipped. I recently bought a Samsung D600, which many people this is one of the best cell phones, and needless it does not have GPS built it. I heard a technical presentation about it from SwRI before, and it is cheaper to use GPRS or simialar technology and trianglate a cell phone users location relative to cell phone towers the phone can detect. To comply with the E911 directive, the accuracy is much less precise that can be provided by GPS. The new Disney phones will use GPS, which is much more precise than what is legally mandated by the article you reference. Third, I don't think this article really is even all that much about technological innovation. The alarming part of this article is that precise GPS tracking is being marketed. It's about privacy. I don't think discussing technological capabilities is all that insightful.

    5. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Informative
      You are correct, it was around before 9/11, but the overall phases of the E911 Program have been sped up/enhanced since 9/11.

      In fact, it's now under the authority of Homeland Security:

      http://www.iowahomelandsecurity.org/asp/E_911/Gen_ Assembly_Rpt05.doc

      The 1998 legislature passed and Governor Branstad signed into law Senate File 530 (SF530). In 2004 this law was amended by the legislature. Code of Iowa Chapter 34A provides for a statewide surcharge on wireless communications, including cellular, personal communication services, and commercial mobile radio services. The original surcharge rate was $0.50 per month per telephone number. The surcharge rate was amended in 2004 to $0.65 per month. Under this law, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division is given the responsibility for the "wireless" E911 program.
    6. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Tweekster · · Score: 1

      Actually 9/11 has nothing to do with it. 911 does. People absolutely fucking suck when it comes to 911. they suddenly dont know what street they are on, the address, their middle name. this helps cut the bullshit out when dealing with an emergancy, aka panic in the average person good idea. lots of room for abuse, just isnt credible yet

      --
      The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
    7. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Lurker187 · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not about privacy because they're marketing GPS tracking, it's about privacy because they're marketing GPS tracking to people who are not the intended end users. You can bet if they advertise this phone to kids, they will not be bragging about the GPS part in those ads.

      That said, I would consider telling my daughter in a few years that she can only have a cell phone if it's one of these, and I would explain what it does, and that it could save her life in an emergency. (She's four; I would assume these are intended for pre-teens, not older kids.) Anything else is a breach of trust, and should only be done with cause (if they've shown they are not responsible in specific applicable ways).

      --
      [command INSERTWITTYQUIP failed: insufficient wit]
    8. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's not technical innovation, but most new products aren't. It may be an innovative business model though. Most new products aren't even that, they just copy an existing successful business and use their finacial resources and name recognition to make it successful.

      If anyone else is delivering a service for parents to track their children using cell phones, then Disney is copying that bsusiness model. Otherwise it's an innovation.

    9. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The GPS system inside of cell phones doesn't enable until you dial 911. All phone have multiple operating modes. When you dial 911 on you cell phone it switches modes, and enables the GPS (along with a couple other settings changes ) After you done with your 911 call you actually have to power cycle the phone to make normal calls again. At least this was my experience when I had to use 911 from my Sprint PCS phone. Now on some phones the GPS can run all the time but ONLY if you phone was designed to do that and you getting it for that feature. All others that don't allow you to use it in normal operation have it shut down.

    10. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

      and besides (select rows where "nextel serice"= enabled) Nextel phones above midgrade can be enabled with more or less FULL GPS TRACKING (think real world "Mauraders Map") and i would not be suprised if Sprint Phones get this very soonish

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    11. Re:This isn't particularly technically innovative by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

      to be exact with an E911 setup you could
      1 call 911
      2 get operator
      3 faint away
      4 (wake up in hospital)
      5 Profit!!

      i haven't yet been able to see the actual screen but from what ive found out some part
      of the screen will have a line (most likely right under the CELL PHONE VERIFY LOCATION
      line) that states "E911 info [Lat,Long] nearest street address 123 yadda road nx 12345"
      send an email with link to robert@#mydomain if you have found a screenshot

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
  8. Re:Copyright enforcement? by mnemonic_ · · Score: 1

    It's a cellphone, not a radio.

  9. This will be GREAT! by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 5, Funny

    .... I can buy one for my daughter. While she is away for a day, just throw it into my shady islamic looking neighbors(the ones who let their dog shit in my lawn) no-windowed van. Call 911. Tell them I think I saw him take her... she has a DISNEY CELL PHONE! They find him. Mow him down without question. Everyone scratches their head in confusion. I have a shit free lawn.

    The End

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    1. Re:This will be GREAT! by sedyn · · Score: 1

      Why fake a kidnapping when you can make a dog-napping reality?

      Then again, I like Rube Goldberg plans as much as the next guy. Next time, work in some monkies.

      --
      Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
    2. Re:This will be GREAT! by Isotopian · · Score: 2, Funny

      No but see, the Flying Spaghetti Monster put the shit there (with His Noodly Appendages) to fool you into believing that your neighbors had a dog. Until you can uncover a species that is the missing link between dog and poop, I'm afraid your logic is nothing but anti-religious hate speech.

      --

      It's poetry with a beat behind it! And guns! They're like beatniks with automatic weapons.

    3. Re:This will be GREAT! by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 3, Informative

      Only muslims don't generally take dogs as housepets because they're considered to be unclean -- but hell, who cares about details if they're really terrorists -- uhm, I mean muslim.

      --

      ---
      "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
    4. Re:This will be GREAT! by mapkinase · · Score: 0

      Good answer to this bigot. Thank you.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    5. Re:This will be GREAT! by utexaspunk · · Score: 3, Informative

      My wife is Arab and from a Muslim family, and many of her family friends here in the States who are also Muslim keep dogs as pets. Saying "Muslims don't generally take dogs as housepets" just because certain Muslims think they're unclean is like saying "Christians don't generally drink" just because some Christians think it's sinful. You can't make blanket statements about what Muslims believe any more than you can about Christians.

    6. Re:This will be GREAT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't make blanket statements about what Muslims believe any more than you can about Christians.

      Sure you can! You'll just sound like an idiot.

    7. Re:This will be GREAT! by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 1

      I live in Holland, with mostly Maroccan and Turkish Muslims around, and I really can't remember one family having a dog as pet.

      As to making blanket statements about Muslims or Christians, I get your point, but still, I can make some perfectly valid blanket statements like 'they believe in a God' or 'Muslims don't eat pork' so it's not as simple as you imagine.

      --

      ---
      "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
  10. In summary... by bradbeattie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Get the next generation comfortable with being tracked 24/7?

    1. Re:In summary... by noidentity · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Or get the previous generation comfortable with thinking they're tracking the next generation, all the while the next generation is laughing at how idiotic the previous generation is, both for attempting to track them and making it so easy to avoid.

    2. Re:In summary... by westlake · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Get the next generation comfortable with being tracked 24/7?

      and how many generations of kids past do you think were used to being tracked 24/7? assuming they had any significant mobility at all.

      anoymnity is a late twentieth century conceit.

      it doesn't exist in a rural society or small town. it didn't exist in a traditional inner city neighborhood. where territories were, if anything, even more rigidly defined.

    3. Re:In summary... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God I wish I had points to mod you up right now.

    4. Re:In summary... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      "...it doesn't exist in a rural society or small town."
       
      As someone who grew up in one, boy, would you ever be surprised.

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    5. Re:In summary... by glesga_kiss · · Score: 1
      Get the next generation comfortable with being tracked 24/7?

      Why not? The current generation don't seem to have a problem with it!

    6. Re:In summary... by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      "..it doesn't exist in a rural society or small town."

      Yeah but you don't generally need anonymity as a teenager, privacy maybe (which rural town are pretty damn good for), but not anonymity...

      Point: this Disney Phone would be useless in a good part of the county I live in. Why? You can't get a cell phone signal.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    7. Re:In summary... by westlake · · Score: 1
      As someone who grew up in one, boy, would you ever be surprised

      Our family has lived in and about this town for 200 years.

      There were 25 in my Father's Senior class. His Red Brick School (constructed ca. 1890) for all grades is now the community center. I remember it as my elementary school.

      I have been known by sight since the day I was born.

    8. Re:In summary... by 4of12 · · Score: 1

      The same concerned, nervous parents that surveil their nervous justifiably paranoid children 24/7 with the latest technology of 2006 will be the same nervous, justifiably paranoid parents in nursing homes being surveiled by their concerned, nervous children 24/7 with the latest technological offerings of 2036.

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
  11. So I guess... by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 3, Insightful
    So I guess that kids will come to think of goofy as a big brother

    Another false layer of security for parents that can't be bothered to actually raise thier children. All the kid has to do is to:

    1. Tell parents that they'll be over at billy's house for a while
    2. Parents see child over at billys house on thier GPS system.
    3. Kid leaves phone on doorstep of Billy's house, proceeds to go to the overpass to drop rocks on cars.
    That's the problem: its an easily defeatable system that makes it too easy to lull parents into a false sense of security.
    1. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's why they need to be implantable.

    2. Re:So I guess... by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Funny

      and if you try to remove them they explode!

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:So I guess... by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      And he knows that if I try to call him and he doesn't answer, and I check up on him and he did what you outline, he's grounded for three months. Think he wants to take the risk?

      I'm always amused by people like you. If any sort of tool isn't perfect, then the tool must be worthless. It's one more tool in the parenting arsenal.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
    4. Re:So I guess... by RickPartin · · Score: 1

      That's why you don't tell them you can track it. If murders and bank robbers don't realize cell phones can be tracked I doubt a child will either.

    5. Re:So I guess... by c_forq · · Score: 2, Funny

      No no no, that may get blood on the carpet and walls, they need to IMPLODE.

      --
      Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
    6. Re:So I guess... by tgrigsby · · Score: 4, Funny


            1. Tell parents that they'll be over at billy's house for a while
            2. Parents see child over at billys house on thier GPS system.
            3. Kid leaves phone on doorstep of Billy's house, proceeds to go to the overpass to drop rocks on cars.


      4. Cops show up at door with child.
      5. Child spends the next week in the bathroom trying trying to crap out my shoe.
      6. Child never pulls that stunt again.
      7. Child tells the story to his grandkids of the time he tried to pull a fast one on his Dad and ended up passing a size 11 Nike Field General...

      Works for me.

      --
      *** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
    7. Re:So I guess... by MrNougat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And without a GPS track:

            1. Tell parents that they'll be over at Billy's house for a while.
            2. Kid proceeds to go to the overpass to drop rocks on cars.

      No system at all is more easily defeatable than a simple system.

      I'm going to take a wild guess and say you don't have children. When parents want to use a tool to enhance the safety of their children, it's not because they can't be bothered to raise them; it's because they love them more than anything, and will try every avenue to make sure their kids are okay. Parents who can't be bothered to raise their children don't care whether the kids are dropping rocks off of overpasses or not.

      For those of you keeping score at home, another way to tell when someone doesn't have kids - when the server at the restaurant puts the silverware, full adult-sized water glass and piping hot plate of food immediately in front of the two year old in the booster seat; it's safe to assume that person doesn't have children.

      --
      Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
    8. Re:So I guess... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "That's the problem: its an easily defeatable system that makes it too easy to lull parents into a false sense of security."

      Any system is 'easily defeatable', especially by an out-of-sight kid. "You're not allowed to watch this show." "Okay! Can I go over to Billy's where you cannot see what I'm watching there?" "Sure, have fun." Parents still have to be parents. If they call their kid once in a while, then the Billy's doorstep approach isn't as useful.

      Then there's the matter of kidnapping. We recently had a case here in LA where a woman left her child in the car and somebody stole it. Sprint refused to hand over information about where the GPS locator was blipping until they recieved a court order. I'm sorry, I don't know how that turned out (other than the child is safely at home) but people were PISSED at Sprint for not lending a hand when they could have. Anyway, the point here isn't that Sprint sucks. The point is that there is one solid case where a missing child could have been located with a phone like this. The car thief would only needed have thrown the phone out the window. Easily defeatable. Yet, it didn't happen.

      I agree with you to an extent about the false sense of security, but I don't see 'easily defeatable' as a strong reason to avoid it.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    9. Re:So I guess... by Yartrebo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not very hard to control kids ... a leash works well as a low tech device and I have read of them being used on kids (on slashdot no less) ... the issue is that these things are a major violation of privacy.

      To make matters worse, the kind of control-freak parents who tend use these kinds of tracking devices tend to be overly punitive. I wouldn't be surprised if the kid gets 3 weeks grounding for leaving the cell phone on the floor. I also wouldn't be surprised if the kid gets 3 weeks every time the school calls home about anything (even when the kid is in the right ... schools make even more mistakes than our justice system as the kid doesn't even get a fair trial).

      Punishing kids inappropriately or excessively, aside from violating the golden rule, generally shows up either with a rebellious attitude -> defeatism once punished enough or it shows up in the kid becoming a selfish person who looks out only for themselves.

      Morally, I wouldn't find it so bad if it were consentual and reciprocal - if the kids could track wherever their parents went ... including one parent cheating on another or visits to strip joints. After all, if you have nothing to hide ...

    10. Re:So I guess... by Flower · · Score: 1
      1. Call child on phone and have them not answer because they left phone at Billy's.
      2. Child gets caught vandalizing cars on freeway. Cops heavily fine parent.
      3. Child gets old school justice and stands at attention for next week and a half.
      4. Child learns to call forward to Billy's cell which has no GPS tracking because Billy has good parents who trust him.
      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    11. Re:So I guess... by DerGeist · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This is really a recurring problem. Do we hand over our privacy for increased security? Or by handing over our privacy do we lose both?

      It's a tough question. I have no doubt whatsoever that the story you describe happened, I also don't doubt there are numerous other potential benefits of a US-wide tracking system. But it's a bit creepy to think your cell phone, that lovable device that you're hopelessly addicted to, is silently phoning home (no pun intended) all the time. It has a little microphone in it, you know. And it has speakerphone, so it's a sensitive little bugger.

      Wouldn't take much to silently start recording...I mean, maybe you're being robbed! We should be able to find out so we can help you. Maybe you're minding your own business, maybe you're stealing music or dealing drugs. If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide (yes, I hate this awful line as much as you do).

      The whole concept of people not being able to make decisions for themselves is what is so scary.

    12. Re:So I guess... by snjwyatt · · Score: 1

      So what your saying is billys GOOD parents trust him while he lets his friend forward his phone to billys so that they can go drop bricks on cars. Sounds to me like billy has GREAT parents.

    13. Re:So I guess... by jftitan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well I'll put this comment on the layer of good parenting.

        First thing is, I have kids that I have taught to listen to their parents. (Even if I'm drunk, but the lesson is they will never know unless I tell them.) They have learned that whatever they do, I have already done it in the past. So either they tell me ahead of time, or I figure it out, and shit hits the fan.
        My kiddo' learned that if she goes to a club (she's 14), as club that I know is not suitable for a 14 year old, she is not allowed to goto because I've been there so I know what it is like. Then she is in deep shits!. Well the other day, she went over to a friends place to spend the night. Well as bright as she is, she didn't think about NOT giving out her telephone number to guys at the club. While we thought she would be spending the safe night at her friends house, she went out to this so said club.
        We found out about this night out, because she gave here HOME phone number to a guy who was trying to get lucky. (she didn't think about telling this guy to only call during the day... either he was really trying, or he was just nutts. I dunno, but he learned a lesson as well) We found out!
        The first lesson our kids learned (as good parents we are) is to NEVER EVER LIE to your parents. "Because whatever you do, we did it first!" When she came home, the first question we asked was, "who is this Joe guy?", and she shit herself.
      We saw she was going to lie, but it immediately clicked in, and she told us the truth.
        Mind you, if only parents where in the search for Osama, he would have been found years ago. She knew that if she lied, we could find enough people to tell us otherwise. She talked, and we didn't disipline her like we did in the past when she would try to lie to us.
        I just wish parents would teach their kids that it is always better to tell us the truth in the first place, even though they did something wrong. It is always better to tell us what 'your' (synomoyous with kids) plans are so we can tell you what or what not allowed to do, than to do it, and lie to us. Parents would be in better knowledge about their kids.
        We possibly wouldn't have as many problems as we do with our youth as we do now.
      I'm not saying, lets be FRIENDS with our kids rather than be parents, but I'm trying to portray that parents should teach our kids values to trusting their parents. If they do something wrong they should know they did something wrong, but knowingly understand it. Of course they will be punished, but you have to accept the punishment for the cause.
        These days parents leave it up to the automated electronics, or government, or even others to do their job. Only parents can teach thier own children values and understandings of what is expected of them.
        I would rather have my kids grow up, understanding that no matter what happens to them or what they do, We will always be there. Than to have them think they should go somewhere else to get the respect, or acknowledgement that they wish to have.

      (I'm drunk, but this doesn't mean I'm a bad parent... I know where my kids are!)

      --
      "Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
    14. Re:So I guess... by rk · · Score: 1

      s/good parents/fucking stoopid parents/

    15. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      So, are you going to ground him every time his phone battery runs out? Goes to a movie theater? Can't get a signal? Listens to music and can't hear his phone ring? You can't answer a phone in every situation. There's a lot of places where cell phone use is rude, and frankly, I'd rather you teach your kid that than threaten to ground him when he doesn't answer. Or, hey, maybe you could just not treat him like a criminal to begin with.

    16. Re:So I guess... by Flower · · Score: 1
      I apologize. I forgot to renew my subscription for sarcasm tags and ran out. Paying for a new batch as we speak.

      Also I forgot 5. Call Billy's mom and ask to speak with my son (Oh ALL RIGHT! I was chatting her up. Like you wouldn't :P) "What? He's not there?" Goto 3. This is AKA "OMG. Dad's going old school."

      Defense-in-depth kids. Get used to it.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    17. Re:So I guess... by zcat_NZ · · Score: 1

      Neither.

      They need to dump about 8 hours worth of sedatives into the bloodstream and log their last known position after being tampered with. That gives parents plenty of time to get to the scene without having to worry that their untagged child will wander away :-)

      --
      455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
    18. Re:So I guess... by Cadallin · · Score: 1

      And I'd like to cite a practice called "culling the herd." If your kids are too stupid to survive childhood, maybe they shouldn't. I wish there were real vampires. Humanity needs a real, dangerous predatory animal to keep its numbers in check.

    19. Re:So I guess... by linuxrocks123 · · Score: 1

      > 5. Child spends the next week in the bathroom trying trying to crap out my shoe.

      Ah, so you like to beat _and_ spy on your children. You must be a quite lovely individual.

      I sincerely hope you don't breed any more than you already have, but I'm not getting my hopes up. If you think kicking the crap out of your kids is a good idea, you're probably also too stupid to figure out how to use that birth control stuff.

      --
      vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.
    20. Re:So I guess... by ottothecow · · Score: 1
      So what if your kid is intentionally bad about recharging his phone? What if they are good about it and simply forget?

      At what point are you going to stop invading your kids privacy? When they start Middle School? High School(can only hope someone around them tells them whats up by then)? No, probobly not because you are going to then want to track them when they start to drive...do you finally say "here take this new phone, we have been tracking you your whole life like cattle or endangered birds but its time to stop" when they go to college?

      Certain kids are going to requir special circumstances but mostly you are just going to have to form a trusting relationship with your kids by the time they would be doing things like the grandparent mentioned. Be thankful if at the very least they call you when they go somewhere else (but what would you have done before mobile phones? oh thats right...trusted your kids)

      --
      Bottles.
    21. Re:So I guess... by Flower · · Score: 1
      That's right. Everyday, tgrigsby and I make sure we keep our kids in line - switch in hand. It's hard on the trees but nothing is too high a price to show my kids proper discipline. *rolls eyes*

      IHBT HAND.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    22. Re:So I guess... by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 1
      The whole concept of people not being able to make decisions for themselves is what is so scary.

      The whole concept of people not being able to make decisions for themselves is what is called "childhood." That's the one crucial difference between children and adults you know. You don't want 4-year olds deciding that they can wander off to go down to the lake and play on the spillway all by themselves with no one around and no one knowing where they are.

    23. Re:So I guess... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      "They need to dump about 8 hours worth of sedatives into the bloodstream"

      Wow, so child molesters don't even have to slip something in your drink anymore before they rape you, they can now knock you out with a tiny radio jamming device from 50 feet away!

      The 21st really is the century of convenience.

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    24. Re:So I guess... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      The answer to your question is "Yes". And you won't actually catch him at it until he's gone about 4 months into the 'dodging surveillance' cycle and progressed into actual criminal activity (petty crime, generally). Though you won't find out about it like that, of course: you'll hear about how you caught them the first time they dodged and they were just slipping away to buy porn and were embarassed. They DEFINITELY haven't been off drinking and having sex with adults they meet in clubs using fake IDs for the last month, no, sir /wink /wink.

      Seriously, man. I was a kid once, I'm assuming you were too. You know damn well that the "my parents are being dicks, but i can easily outthink their system" situation does to an adolescent mind. Hopping off the bridge looks like a stupid idea until someone cages you in to prevent you getting to the bridge at all.

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    25. Re:So I guess... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      I'm assuming it's a mix of metaphor and hyperbole. Corporal punishment is actually a perfectly workable system, done right, though it varies from person to person in its effect as any form of punishment might.

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    26. Re:So I guess... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      My mom used to keep me on a leash (harness, not collar, obviously) when I was like 2-4 years old in department stores (especially clothing, where there are about 1000000 places someone 2-3 feet tall can be completely concealed by the terrain). I learned to operate the latch when she wasn't looking and would wander off anyhow.

      It's very similar to this device. It's really nice to keep track of your kids in case they get in an accident of kidnapped or something beyond their control where they need your help, but if they actually want to escape (in my case, to play hide-and-seek in the winter clothing racks) then it's going to do approximately jack.

      On a side note, the fact that I could operate a 'child-proof' locked metal latch before I knew how to construct a proper sentence was great foreshadowing for my future profession. I think it's also the reason that my mother's hair was grey by the time I was 17 (my siblings were never half the pain I was without even trying).

      I have absolutely no hard feelings about the leash, by the way. I think that anything that a dog can put up with and benefit from a kid can take just as well... in fact, I'm often hard-pressed to find the differences between a 5-year-old and a laborador at all, short of the dog being somewhat smarter.

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    27. Re:So I guess... by ultranova · · Score: 1

      And I'd like to cite a practice called "culling the herd." If your kids are too stupid to survive childhood, maybe they shouldn't. I wish there were real vampires. Humanity needs a real, dangerous predatory animal to keep its numbers in check.

      Actually, the social darwinists, such as yourself, fullfill the role of the beast quite nicely. There has never been any shortage of evil people who prey on other people, and such shortage isn't likely to occur.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    28. Re:So I guess... by Flower · · Score: 1
      A real predator will usually wind up going after the sick due to the herd working religously on protecting the young. Since your attitude is abberant and hinders the propagation of the species I have no qualms about sacrificing you to your vampiric fantasy.

      Have a Darwinian Day!

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    29. Re:So I guess... by ultranova · · Score: 1

      The whole concept of people not being able to make decisions for themselves is what is called "childhood." That's the one crucial difference between children and adults you know. You don't want 4-year olds deciding that they can wander off to go down to the lake and play on the spillway all by themselves with no one around and no one knowing where they are.

      So when can they make this decision ? When they're 10, 15, 18 ? You don't suddenly stop being a child and become an adult in one day, it's a gradual process.

      The problem of parents being able to keep an eye on their kids 24 hours a day 7 days a week with very little effort is that the bond stays just as strong until the day it suddenlsy snaps. If you need to be present to keep an eye on your kids, they will gradually gain independence, since you have an incentive to give that to them. If, however, you can have an eye on the sky watching them all the time, the fear is that they'll gain their independence all at once at 18, with no experience on how to use it. Guess what happens then ? Hint: it has a lot to do with drugs and sex and every other thing you've kept them from until then.

      This device is a bad idea, since it is very disruptive to the normal development of the child-parent relationship. Normally, a parent slowly loses his power over the child, who slowly gains independence at a pace that lets him learn how to use it; this device interferes with that, and leads to immature (because they never had the space needed to mature) people suddenly gaining their freedom at 18 and misusing it since they have no idea how to use it well, having never had the opportunity to learn.

      The other possible outcome is a person who's so used to being watched 24/7 that he immediately and reflexively suppresses anything resembling independent thought that might appear in his mind. But I hope that the poor bastards who's parents give in to their paranoia and get these devices will go the road of rebellion when adults - at least they are living their life, if poorly, while an utterly broken person described above is really trying to not exist - to hide all traces of his own personality, will and feelings.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    30. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, so child molesters don't even have to slip something in your drink anymore before they rape you, they can now knock you out with a tiny radio jamming device from 50 feet away!

      Well, actually they can just wait for you to go to sleep safe in your own bed. Since there's about an 80% chance it's going to be your father.

      Seriously, child abuse by strangers is laughably rare compared to the incidence of abuse by the parents. We should lock all fathers up, for their children's sake.

    31. Re:So I guess... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Seriously, child abuse by strangers is laughably rare compared to the incidence of abuse by the parents. We should lock all fathers up, for their children's sake.

      I realize (or at least hope) that you're trying to point out the ridiculousness of this "but what about teh OMG PEDOS" attitude, but seriously, please. Fathers have few enough rights as is.

    32. Re:So I guess... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      The other side of the coin is that YOUR attitude hinders the propagation of the species by allowing irrational emotion to drive you to oppose the advancement of the species by artificially maintaining the weak bloodlines.

    33. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That you gave a serious reply to that is really scary.

    34. Re:So I guess... by Flower · · Score: 1

      Ok Spock. :P

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    35. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Child tells the story to his grandkids of the time he tried to pull a fast one on his Dad and ended up passing a size 11 Nike Field General...

      so your wife kicked him? (:

    36. Re:So I guess... by murdocj · · Score: 1
      Or, hey, maybe you could just not treat him like a criminal to begin with.

      He is not a criminal. He's a child. The parent is responsible for him. The rules are different when you are a child than when you are an adult.

    37. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go fuck yourself you foamy mouthed liberal!

    38. Re:So I guess... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Heh heh. Honestly, it's true. Emotion is irrational by definition. :)

    39. Re:So I guess... by fbjon · · Score: 1

      But at the same time the child must be taught to be responsible, by being trusted. The parents have responsibility as a caretaker, but they can't own another human being. Learn from your mistakes, it's how life works, etc...

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    40. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      another way to tell when someone doesn't have kids - when the server at the restaurant puts the silverware, full adult-sized water glass and piping hot plate of food immediately in front of the two year old in the booster seat; it's safe to assume that person doesn't have children.


      Exactly, you produced 'em. They're your problem, not mine.

    41. Re:So I guess... by rk · · Score: 1

      Oh, it's all good. I caught your sarcasm. I was in agreement with you, just spelling it out to those who may have missed it.

    42. Re:So I guess... by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      So what if your kid is intentionally bad about recharging his phone? What if they are good about it and simply forget?

      Either way, it doesn't matter. They get punished until they do remember. It's called "discipline" and "responsibility". Just like in the real world, there are consequences to one's actions.

      At what point are you going to stop invading your kids privacy?

      College. At the point that I'm no longer responsible for them and responsible for teaching them right and wrong. Kids have no right to privacy.

      Certain kids are going to requir special circumstances but mostly you are just going to have to form a trusting relationship with your kids by the time they would be doing things like the grandparent mentioned.

      Trust is a two-way street. If they're good about informing me where they are and what they're doing, I'll probably be a bit looser with the reigns. But I'm a firm believer in the old adage, "trust, but verify".

      My kids are currently 4 and 6, so this is not theoretical (like I suspect it is for you). There is no way I'm going to be a "modern parent" that lets their kids run wild and be so intimidated by them that they're never parents to their kids.

      Kids need boundaries. And since they're kids, they'll test them, and my job is to make sure they're healthy, happy and loved by the time they leave the nest.

      Guess what? I intend to randomly drug test when they get to be teenagers, too. (and they'll thank me for it, because it gives them a built-in excuse to tell their druggie friends, 'nah, I can't, my parents drug test.')

      You know, it's funny. If you read biographies of famous people, ones that had strong and disciplining parents never complain about it, they're always thankful (obviously I'm not talking about emotionally or physically abusive parents).

      Lots of love, lots of discipline. Both are important.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
    43. Re:So I guess... by Youssef+Adnan · · Score: 1

      This is Slashdot. You're missing the following steps: 4- ???? 5- profit?

    44. Re:So I guess... by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 1

      *ring* *ring*

      "Hello?"

      "Yuck yuck! This is Goofy! yuck! yuck! Your daughter has just been in an accident. Yuck yuck! Have a good day! Har har!"

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    45. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If my kid left the phone at Billies and then dropped rocks on cars off of an overpass? This phone would definately be implantable.

    46. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, his kids should be taken away and assigned to the Toronto Maple Leafs -- 'cause they could never beat anyone...

    47. Re:So I guess... by Lurker187 · · Score: 1

      Trust, but verify.

      --
      [command INSERTWITTYQUIP failed: insufficient wit]
    48. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I just like to beat children. I don't really care about spying on them, nor do I care if they're mine.

    49. Re:So I guess... by oblivionboy · · Score: 1

      I call BS on your post. Its irrelevant whether someone has kids or not as to whether or not they are able to make a valid point on this issue. If it makes you feel superior to say so and think so thats fine. But the basis of the argument still stands on its own merit, no matter who is making it.

      I don't care if you have kids. But I still have to live with your kids. And in the future that they end up creating. And if I have kids they'll have to deal with your kids as well. So this affects me, whether or not I'm a member of your (haughty, it would seem) segment of society.

      With that out of the way. Lets get down to the BS part.

      Kids have grown up and lived in modern society for around 100 years perfectly fine on their own without cell phones or trackers or anything like that. Communities have been relatively safe at least in major parts of the so called "Western World", and there are lots of ways to know where your child is at anytime or if they have gone missing. You have other parents, schools, after school places, etc, etc.

      So now you have the opportunity to track them. And? I understand giving them a cell phone. If they are genuinely in trouble they can call you. This is actually great, because it does add to communication, and it can foster an element of responsibility.

      But remember that kids are actually not your little puppets, but area meant to grow up to be independant members of society. The only thing I can see by having your kid knowing that you're monitoring them 24/7 is that you are ultimately undermining their trust, and also their ability to develop autonomy. I would actually argue this is bad parenting.

      I understand you love your child, and thats great. But there is a greater love than just "possession" -- which this kind of a tracking device is to some degree an extension of (if you know where something is even if you don't have it in your presence,in a sense you always possess it, great for stalkers by the way) -- which is that of bringing your child up to be a responsible member of society. I'm not sure how giving them an electronic leash is going to foster that.

    50. Re:So I guess... by randomtangent · · Score: 1
      For those of you keeping score at home, another way to tell when someone doesn't have kids - when the server at the restaurant puts the silverware, full adult-sized water glass and piping hot plate of food immediately in front of the two year old in the booster seat; it's safe to assume that person doesn't have children.


      This is also how I can tell if the someone is getting a tip or not.
      Had a waitress put a bown of hot beans (for dipping chips) right infront of my 9 month old. As I'm reaching to move it (her arm still in the way) he put his hand in it and starts screaming as it's hot.
      Far from learning from this she put every future dish either in front of him or right next to him.
      --
      -Mike
    51. Re:So I guess... by glsunder · · Score: 1

      I think you took the foot in the ass thing a bit too literally. If you can fit a shoe in someone's ass, then they have other issues that need worked out. I wear size 13 so maybe it is more feasable for someone with smaller feet.

      BTW, I'd say dropping rocks off an overpass onto moving cars would be enough of a reason to find out if the shoe fits.

    52. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For those of you keeping score at home, another way to tell when someone doesn't have kids - when the server at the restaurant puts the silverware, full adult-sized water glass and piping hot plate of food immediately in front of the two year old in the booster seat; it's safe to assume that person doesn't have children.

      Actually, it might be safe to assume that person has children who are well-behaved instead of your little monsters. Mannered children do exist you know.

    53. Re:So I guess... by linuxrocks123 · · Score: 1

      I actually laughed out loud reading that. Someone actually mistook me for a liberal ... wow.

      --
      vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.
    54. Re:So I guess... by linuxrocks123 · · Score: 1

      Okay, fair enough. To be honest, that post wasn't exactly a troll, but I was very angry when I posted it over things unrelated to Slashdot.

      I had no right to insult tgrigsby like that; I don't even know the guy. I did recognize that he was joking about literally shoving his shoe up his child's butt, but I inferred from his comment that he has no problems using aggressive corporal punishment. Had I wanted to make a respectful, rational comment arguing against corporal punishment, I should have done so instead of posting ... that. I apologize to both you and him.

      --
      vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.
    55. Re:So I guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, and another ID follower rears his ugly head.... Let me guess. God will take care of all of it right?

    56. Re:So I guess... by MrNougat · · Score: 1

      Actually, it might be safe to assume that person has children who are well-behaved instead of your little monsters. Mannered children do exist you know.

      Sorry, Anonymous Coward (if that's your real name) --

      The most well behaved two year old in the world will still get hurt doing what two year olds do: explore everything with their hands, and often their mouths.

      For those of you keeping score at home: another way to tell when someone doesn't have kids is when they think that kids who aren't silent and motionless are "little monsters."

      (Go ahead, mod me Troll. I got karma to burn.)

      --
      Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
    57. Re:So I guess... by tgrigsby · · Score: 1

      Ah, so you like to beat _and_ spy on your children. You must be a quite lovely individual.

      Actually, I love spying on my children. To be a good parent, you have to be an informed parent. My kids know that I probably will, too.

      I also don't have a problem with spanking them, although that's used as a last resort. Here are my full views on spanking.

      I sincerely hope you don't breed any more than you already have...

      You too.

      Take a breath. Then go to eBay and buy yourself a sense of humor...

      --
      *** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
    58. Re:So I guess... by linuxrocks123 · · Score: 1

      I shouldn't have posted that and I'm sorry for personally attacking you.

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=182353&thresho ld=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=15073889#150791 91

      I said in the above comment that I disagreed with you, but heck, I'm not in a consistent enough state at this point in my life to analyze the issue; I may end up actually agreeing with you. You certainly aren't acting maliciously, and you didn't deserve that. It wasn't a troll, but it certainly wasn't rational either. Mea culpa.

      --
      vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.
  12. Okay... by gameforge · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I assume the kid would have to want their parents to see wherver they go, otherwise they could just turn the phone off? I know I always used to tell my mom that my battery died, when she couldn't get ahold of me (and I was up to no good =])

    Are there other phones with GPS capabilities? I could see a lot of useful applications for that - if they make it tiny & easy enough, it would eliminate the need for GPS receivers (obviously) - if I am in a large parking lot, at a sports event or something, it would make for a pretty easy way to meet up with friends & whatnot, if I can just get my phone to send their phone my GPS coordinates.

    It would sure make losing your phone a less painful experience...

    1. Re:Okay... by ECELonghorn · · Score: 1
      IIRC There are other phones with GPS receivers. I think all of Nextel's new phones have them. However, GPS is a feature most people don't need, and consequently to the average user it just results in a lower battery life. Also, the cell phone has to be larger to contain the GPS receiver, which again your average consumer doesn't want. Lastly, adding GPS functionality makes the phone cost more (cost of receiver), which again, has undermined the market for GPS phones.

      Concisely, imagine taping your existing bluetooth GPS to your cell phone. If you want, you can remove battery for the GPS before taping, but just realize the space saved means the phone bettery will die that much quicker. The final result will cost about as much as your cell phone + the bluetooth GPS; if you want it much smaller, the price goes up more.

    2. Re:Okay... by Unlikely_Hero · · Score: 1

      Not quite, even with the phone off it can be tracked. The only way to stop this is to entirely remove the battery. This is what got CIA Agents caught in that job in Italy involving the kidnapping of a radical muslim. (If I got the Italy story wrong here, forgive me...it's 2:30 AM and I'm tired as hell)

      --
      Happiness does not come from having much, but from being attached to little.
    3. Re:Okay... by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

      Eh, most kids know basic electronics these days. They don't turn it off, they disconnect the battery ;).

      --
      ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
    4. Re:Okay... by midnight426 · · Score: 1

      Are there other phones with GPS capabilities? I could see a lot of useful applications for that - if they make it tiny & easy enough, it would eliminate the need for GPS receivers (obviously) - if I am in a large parking lot, at a sports event or something, it would make for a pretty easy way to meet up with friends & whatnot, if I can just get my phone to send their phone my GPS coordinates.

      Well, it's not a phone, but it allows voice communication: Garmin makes the Rino Radios which have both voice and GPS tracking of friends integrated.

  13. Re:Copyright enforcement? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Wasn't it an iPod?

  14. Hate to be the bearer of bad news... by dooms13 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    How long until the government ruins this and starts tracking all of us based on our cell phones?


    Oh wait, they probably already do...
    Beware...

    1. Re:Hate to be the bearer of bad news... by Rod+Beauvex · · Score: 0

      The do now, actually. Well, they can if they (feel they) need to. I recently tried to have an old Verizon phone tunred back on, and they would not do it becasue it was not able to be tracked by a GPS system. Quite unnerving, really.

    2. Re:Hate to be the bearer of bad news... by dfung · · Score: 1

      I guess this is possible and you know your situation better then I do, but the E911 system requires new hardware that most phones don't have so I think it's unlikely that this is the reason that Verizon didn't want to turn your phone back on. Probably more likely that it was based on a radio system that they were no longer supporting. I imagine that most of the carriers don't want to reactivate old analog AMPS phones for regular service (they have longer range but eat much more bandwidth). My first digital cell phone was a PacBell Wireless phone. Two or three mergers later, I have service with Cingular who is the same company but along they way, they converted most of their line to a different cell frequency. Maybe the Verizon customer service person had no clue?

      All that said, the carrier or government can find your approximate position with a conventional (non-E911) phone by triangulation between different antennae that are picking up your phone. Since digital cells are smaller in size, they can see your position more accurately that way than with an analog phone. I have no idea whether the cell phone infrastructure has a giant regional brain that is making the decision about which receiver should be live among the ones that are getting your signal or whether that decision is distributed among the microcell routers, but at some level, if you are visible to more than one microcell your position becomes calculable.

  15. Disney Mobile phones in Iraq? by theurge14 · · Score: 1

    This should make it easy for the US Army to detect IUDs set off by Disney Mobile phones.

    1. Re:Disney Mobile phones in Iraq? by thevoice · · Score: 5, Funny

      IUD's? Intra Uterine Devices?

      I wouldn't like to see one of them blow...

    2. Re:Disney Mobile phones in Iraq? by ECELonghorn · · Score: 1

      Just to clarrify, I think what is really meant is IUD = IED = Improvised Explosive Devices
      Second, I think you are trying to be funny, but seriouslt if the Army is standing around and sees an IED is detonated, and they have to go through the disney network to realize the explosion occured right where the rubble is, I think we as a country have bigger concerns than a loss of privacy.

  16. This changes the meaning of the acronym entirely. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So...GPS is the "Goofy(tm) Positioning System" now?

  17. I for one... by B11 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Welcome our new Disney overlords.

    --
    insert inflammatory anti-microsoft comment here
  18. Forget the queue, get one of those "later" passes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Return between 2:00AM and 2:20AM on August 21, 2012 to get on this ride.

  19. Re:Copyright enforcement? by tepples · · Score: 1

    It's a cellphone, not a radio.

    I knew that. I was talking about using this cellphone to place a phone call in the same room as a radio that had been turned on.

  20. If only... by garyr_h · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now if only the government can install GPS under our skin when we are born we will be all set.

    --
    http://chickencamels.poemofquotes.com/
  21. This will be fun by nickgrieve · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sources of GPS signal errors

    Factors that can degrade the GPS signal and thus affect accuracy include the following:

      The more satellites a GPS receiver can "see," the better the accuracy. Buildings, terrain, electronic interference, or sometimes even dense foliage can block signal reception, causing position errors or possibly no position reading at all.

    GPS units typically will not work indoors, underwater or underground.

    All I can see coming out of this is a bunch of already paranoid parents having panic attacks when Little Jimmy goes in his friends house, or jumps on a bus.

    1. Re:This will be fun by bhalter80 · · Score: 1

      I think you forgot one factor to degrade GPS accuracy...dead batteries. While I can certainly see the fun in lojacking teenagers I don't see some 15 year old running arround yelling "dude I got my new Goofy phone". This seems like its just an extension of Nextel's GPS features which btw Sprint/NEXTEL is the servcie provider for Disney.

      This doesn't solve the problem of parents not parenting as kids can/will turn the phone off or detach the battery if they don't want to be tracked. Also the parents who can't be bothered to talk to their kids at dinner and think this is the solution would have to be interested enough to check where their kid is. I think you need to either trust that they are where they say they are in which case they deserve to be left alone or they aren't trustworthy enough and they deserve to be grounded until they learn that you aren't screwing around and they will be caught if they misbehave. Not necessarily every time but often enough to make the risk of getting caught too high for the reward if you get away with it.

    2. Re:This will be fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't the concept of "GPS" vs cell phone GPS completely different?

      Isn't cell phone GPS the distance of the phone, from X number of towers + "triangulation" (see any episode of 24 for reference), used for the location?

      So, if it is concept number two, it will roughly be able to tell the location of said user, as long as said user had signal, and was registered on the cell network.

    3. Re:This will be fun by nickgrieve · · Score: 1

      well... if its the cell tower method, then its not really global.

    4. Re:This will be fun by robertjw · · Score: 1

      This doesn't solve the problem of parents not parenting as kids can/will turn the phone off or detach the battery if they don't want to be tracked.

      Or leave it in their locker at school while they cut class, or swap phones with their friends to make their parents crazy. Some of these ideas seem to assume that kids are stupid. I know we weren't when we were kids. We, often innocently, bypassed the rules to do what we wanted. When we really wanted to buck the system it wasn't exactly hard.

      OTOH, I can see some valid uses for this. Friends take the kid to a party and he wants to go home but isn't sure where she is, Mom can find her. Stuff like that.

  22. The Do'gooder plan by threedognit3 · · Score: 0

    Wal-Mart along with Disney have hired PC consultants. Wal-Mart is going urban...with grants. Disney is going extremely parent friendly...in the Bush/NSA sort'a way.

  23. Don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't forget to queue the "queue the 'If parents can track children, so can pedophiles'" um... queues too :-)

  24. Re:Copyright enforcement? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

  25. Silly Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone else tracks you, why not Disney?

    If you allow cookies, Google (and others) track you.
    If you own a cell phone, your provider tracks you.
    If you do anything usefull for free on the internet, the site owner owns you.

    You can't be owned by WalMart/Sainsbury/Etc. by paying in cash, but your owned
    by them once you pay with credit/debit.

    New world,
    Get along with it or fuck with it (register as a female when your a male, change your age, say you like purple when you really like blue). Your choice. There can be no Marketing Masters.

    It's really not 1984 and the government doesn't know that much about you. It's the advertisers and marketing surveys you should be worried about.They know your purchases and your salary. They sell that info so you get pestered by 'Partner 3rd Party' phone calls when your at home and at peace.

  26. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  27. "No Child Left Alone" by surfcow · · Score: 1

    Sigh. Big Bother gets a face lift, and big floppy ears. And Enjoy your Happy Meal! Damnit!

  28. People should be looking after technology by LiftOp · · Score: 1

    ...not their children.

  29. The next (logical?) step? by skayell · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ah-ha! But can the kids tell where their parents are?

    1. Re:The next (logical?) step? by Flower · · Score: 2, Funny
      Explaining why to this day the Beaver still needs therapy.

      Wally? How come everytime we go to Larry's house mom and pop head straight to the bedroom?

      Geez Beav, I don't know. But I bet Eddie might.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
  30. Remember those cancer thoughts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Doesn't Disney think it would be a bit risky to encourage parents to force small children to be using cell phones before they further explore the health risks? I smell lawsuits if those cellphone cancer people are right (Not that I really care; just saying!)...

    ...Of course, the chances of Disney existing by the time those people start suing seem rather slim... Come on! Disney having a cellphone service?!
    I thought owning a poorly named hockey team was ridiculous, but at least that had a minor (though horrid) connection to the TV business.
    Unless... I cringe to think of it... everyone's FAVOURITE Disney characters (you know, the characters from Lilo and Stitch, Cars, and those other overmarketed, souless 3d rendered things) suddenly are equipped with Disney cell phones... and they have their pictures on them!

  31. Young Jack by rlp · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Quick! Get the coordinates of the Bauer kid"

    "Can't do it! He must have turned off the phone and removed the battery"

    "Damn it!"

    --
    [Insert pithy quote here]
  32. SPRINT SUCKS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, dude, Sprint does suck, and so does Nextel (former customer of the former and was forced to use the latter by my employer)...

    So what do you get when you combine 2 cellular companies that suck, one giant cellular company that Totally Sucks Hard.

    At least they didn't take down T-Mobile with them.

  33. yet another service in search of a problem by SirSlud · · Score: 1

    Really dont see how this is anything but commidized peace of mind. Its not 1984 as some other posters have said, but its another example of a product in search of convincing potential customers that the value proposition really solves a currently existing problem.

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  34. Honestly? Not a bad idea... by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

    ...were this anyone other than Disney.

    They are the most soulless company I can think of. They aren't doing this because they think they can make the service turn a profit, they want survey data on our kids so they can more tailor ( ie: bastardize ) stories to grab them in.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  35. Re:Q: Why did Mickey split up with Minnie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually, I believe the joke goes something like this....

    Mickey & Minnie are in divorce court. The judge looks at Mickey and asks him, "You want to divorce Minnie, because she is insane?"

    Mickey replies, "I never said she was insane, I said she's fucking Goofy!"

  36. Privacy worry by denoir · · Score: 1

    The real problem isn't government agencies tracking you. In that respect you can choose not to enable the tracking service. Privacy in that area is at least to some degree protected by law.

    The real implications to privacy are because there are probably people who you can't say no to. How do you explain to your girlfriend that you won't let her track your position? Of course, kids can forget about any privacy if the parents want to track them.

    Still, this technology is bound to succeed big time as it is very convenient. In the end most people probably won't mind friends and family to be able to see where they are.

    1. Re:Privacy worry by ECELonghorn · · Score: 1
      If I had mod points, I would certainly give you one. I think you perfectly describe the problem in that it rises concern that soon enough there will be certain people you can't say "no" to. It brings a whole new meaning to a jealous boyfriend.

      With that said, however, I think the government can track you if they wanted to. I don't recall the name of the law off the top of my head, but the result is roughly that all new cell phones have to be able to able to provide an accurate GPS location when calling 911. There are many, many great benefits to this. For instance, if you get in a serious car accident while driving on vacation, you might have no clue where you are and they are able to quickly know your location. This clearly would be a reason anyone would want to opt-in, if possible. However, there are other reasons for the e911 mandate. The most frequent example I have heard cited is for drug trafficing. Using a cell phone, a call would be placed to 911 saying they are at a self reported location off the coast of the coast and need SOS. The coast guard is dispatched and searches for the troubled caller, meanwhile, 30 miles west a boat pulls into a harbor safely knowing the coast guard is not around. Because of abuses like that, the government will not let someone opt out of the e911 location tracking. All though it does not have to as precise as GPS, it is comparable, and bottom like the technological possibilites of tracking are present.

    2. Re:Privacy worry by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      In that respect you can choose not to enable the tracking service

      Do explain how, please. AIUI, it's built in now, and not even an extra service.

  37. The execution will need to be done carefully... by wiryd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If it gets hacked so that anyone can track the kids carrying these, it would be a child molesters dream come true, wouldn't it? Sure you can argue that all phones technically could be tracked but how many of you think Paris Hilton would be waving one of these around? The target audience that will be holding them will be kids so the demographic work for the hacker has been taken care of.

    I for one have a handful of very young siblings that I wouldn't want this to happen to. If my parents ever get one for them, I will smash them.

    1. Re:The execution will need to be done carefully... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >I for one have a handful of very young siblings that I wouldn't
      >want this to happen to. If my parents ever get one for them, I will smash them.

      Them meaning the siblings? Or them meaning the one phone?

    2. Re:The execution will need to be done carefully... by RexRhino · · Score: 1

      But really, are child molestors more of a boogy man than a real threat? Yes, I am aware that there are actually some real child molestors out there, but I would think that as a percentage of the population it would be very small. I mean, there are serial killers out there too, but we are much more likely to be killed by a spouse or neighbor, and much much much more likely to die of a heart attack or auto accident, than to be skinned alive by Hannible Lector.

      I have a hard time believing there is an army of psychos out there scheming to go after kids... and are going to conspire to hack our mobile phone system as some big evil pedophile master plan.

      I think things like teen pregnancy, or experimenting with drugs, or getting hit by someone driving a big SUV and talking on their cell phone, is the real threat to kids. Perfectly ordinary, everyday things that don't make the TV news. And some of those things (when Sally says she is spending the night at her friends house, but is really going to a party with her boyfriend... when Bobby cuts class to play basketball...), could be helped by these devices.

  38. The quick flick... by packetmill · · Score: 0

    ..is always more effective than this nonsense.

  39. Yeah, but... by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 1

    Can your kid Drive and merge with Goofy into Valour form, and then wield two cellphones?! Because that would be awesome.

    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
    1. Re:Yeah, but... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      But battery life goes down to about 30 seconds.

  40. Hmm, nobody's noticed.... by stuartkahler · · Score: 1

    The best part of this phone is that you can limit who your kids call. Most (heck, all?) cell phone companies seem focused on making you pay for whatever absurd bill your kid can run up each month. Either pay it or resign yourself to not being able to call your kid.

    If anyone can correct me on this, I really want to know.

    1. Re:Hmm, nobody's noticed.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't *every* cellphone have this capability already?

      Sure, you need to ask your provider for that extra PIN code, the one which allows you to set the numbers and which you should NOT give to your kid, and the interface to set these number is a bit awkward, but I though every phone already had this ability *now*.

    2. Re:Hmm, nobody's noticed.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's dependant on the service provider (it needs pin2), but my siemens cf110 can be set to only be capable to call a set of numbers.

      You can limit to call:
      - Only one number.
      - Protected sim numbers.
      - Last ten calls.

      Sorry for my english, it isn't my native languaje.

  41. In Soviet Russia by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do children track Goofy in Soviet Russia?

  42. Typical ignorant response. by nobodyman · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Another false layer of security for parents that can't be bothered to actually raise thier children.
    Let me guess - you aren't a parent. Perhaps this service is worthless for parents that have poor relationship with their children. But don't you think that this phone could be a valuable tool for good parents, too? How about this:

    1. Billy starts walking home from bus stop
    2. Stranger grabs Billy and forces him into The Van With No Doors and No Windows
    3. Stranger drives off.

    So, is being able to track your kid's GPS-enabled phone still worthless?

    There are actually some very good arguments in favor of giving your kid a cell phone. However, there are downsides such as
    • kids can easily exceed alotted minutes (usually inadvertantly).
    • too easy to sign up for costly services (ringtones, screensavers, whatnot) by pressing 4 numbers but often very difficult to cancel/unsubscribe
    • not as much control over who your child is talking to than the home phone

    So, a phone w/ parental controls and GPS goes a long way to addressing these concerns. I myself would have loved this phone back when I was a kid. When I was 15, my parents were pretty lenient about what I could do so long as I a) told them where I'd be b) who I'd be with and c) prove it (usually a phone call from me to check in). Not having a cell phone made it kindof a pain sometimes. Now parents can maintain the same rules but also give their kids a greater sense of freedom.
    1. Re:Typical ignorant response. by NaDrew · · Score: 1
      2. Stranger grabs Billy and forces him into The Van With No Doors and No Windows

      So how did Stranger force Billy into The Van, then?
      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    2. Re:Typical ignorant response. by geminidomino · · Score: 2, Funny

      Fucking Vorlons, always grabbing kids...

    3. Re:Typical ignorant response. by chosen_papaya · · Score: 1
      So how did Stranger force Billy into The Van, then?
      Umm.... Dukes-of-Hazzard style? Yeah, I guess I screwed that expression up, huh? oops.
    4. Re:Typical ignorant response. by Skater · · Score: 1

      Seems to me (based on my understanding of GPS) this would just tell you where he was grabbed, unless GPS on phones has magically acquired the ability to work indoors, especially with no windows. If they shut his phone off, then you have slightly more information about the abduction (where it happened), but probably not enough to get him back.

    5. Re:Typical ignorant response. by yuna49 · · Score: 1
      1. Billy starts walking home from bus stop
      2. Stranger grabs Billy and forces him into The Van With No Doors and No Windows
      3. Stranger drives off.

      I feel impelled to point out that events like these are very rare yet most parents seem to believe their children face perils like these every day. (Yes, I am a parent of a 14-year-old girl who, studies show, is a much more likely target for predators than younger children or boys.)

      So how about some statistics? Unfortunately the data are quite spotty and the best studies cover the late 90's. The best summary I can find is http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/nismart/05/index.h tml which reports the following:

      Key findings presented in the NISMART Bulletin National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview include the following:

      • The total number of children who were missing from their caretakers in 1999 (i.e., their caretakers did not know their whereabouts and were alarmed for at least an hour while trying to locate them) is estimated to be 1,315,600.
      • Nearly all of the caretaker missing children (1,312,800 or 99.8 percent) were returned home alive or located by the time the study data were collected. Only a fraction of a percent (0.2 percent or 2,500) of all caretaker missing children had not returned home or been located, and the vast majority of these were runaways from institutions who had been identified in the survey of juvenile residential facilities.
      • The number of missing children who were reported missing in 1999 (i.e., reported to the police or missing children's agencies in order to locate them) was estimated to be 797,500, which is equivalent to a rate of 11.4 children per 1,000 in the U.S. population.
      • Most of the caretaker missing children became missing because they ran away (48 percent) or because of benign misunderstandings or miscommunications about where they should be (28 percent).
      • Children who were missing because they became lost or injured accounted for 15 percent of all caretaker missing children.
      • Less than one-tenth (9 percent) of caretaker missing children were abducted by family members, and only 3 percent were abducted by nonfamily perpetrators. [emphasis mine]

      Unfortunately information like this doesn't drive people to watch television news shows as does the occasional high-profile kidnapping. You're not going to see many stories about how Janie was reported missing by her parents and turned out to have stayed too long at a friend's house.

      Please note that I am not suggesting that crimes against children are not significant. Kidnappings, however, make up a very small fraction of crimes against children. According to http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/181161.pdf, kidnapping represents about 1-2% of all violent crimes against children. From the report, "kidnapping is dwarfed by the much more common crimes of simple and aggravated assault, larceny, and sex offenses, which make up most of the crimes against juveniles."

  43. Insightful by thepotoo · · Score: 1
    I hate it when insightful gets modded funny.
    While I don't think we need another 200 comment discussion about it, the parent is fucking right.

    End of story.

    --
    Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
    1. Re:Insightful by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1
      I hate it when insightful gets modded funny.

      Don't worry, it gets balanced by funny getting modded insightful.
      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  44. Goofy, huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Right. I see where this is going; right here.

  45. British people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't you silly Spectrum-using twits know shit about anything?

  46. Re:Q: Why did Mickey split up with Minnie? by SeeMyNuts! · · Score: 1


    Mickey has got nothing on Mr. Snow White.

  47. Car Theft by Databass · · Score: 1

    Toss one of these in the trunk of your car (or hidden in a wheel well or wherever) and it's that much easier to find if your car ever gets stolen.

  48. Obvious problem... by emptycorp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So once a pedophile learns to hack this technology, the child abduction rate climbs exponentially...

    1. Re:Obvious problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? If you want to abduct a kid there are dozens of them hanging around town. I didn't think finding them was the problem - wait outside a school and you have 200 to choose from.

    2. Re:Obvious problem... by moro_666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      i'd be more worried when the female population discovers
      this service and starts to use it on men.

      --

      I'd tell you the chances of this story being a dupe, but you wouldn't like it.
    3. Re:Obvious problem... by joshier · · Score: 1

      if you hadn't already noticed, pedophiles dont want confrontation, instead they would prefer to capture a child in an alleyway, perfect for combination with this technology.

    4. Re:Obvious problem... by Hollyfeld · · Score: 1
      i'd be more worried when the female population discovers this service and starts to use it on men.
      Fortunately /.ers can rest assured in the knowledge that they are immune from being victimized by this heinous misuse of technology...
    5. Re:Obvious problem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what the fuck? admins, ban this twat.

  49. segfault! by sedyn · · Score: 1

    In general what would happen if they left the safe zone?

    "Grandma took little Timmy to get ice cream, then, on the way he started shaking a lot. After a trip to the hospital (within the safe zone), Timmy was diagnosed epileptic."

    Though, it would be funny to see a real life equivilant to an IndexOutofBounds execption.

    --
    Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
  50. Mod those parents down! by GreenPlastikMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seriously though, whatever happened to teaching your kids how to act? You know, that whole parenting thing? It's not parenting if you let a corporation or some gizmo do it for you...

    1. Re:Mod those parents down! by Nutria · · Score: 0

      Seriously though, whatever happened to teaching your kids how to act?

      Part of the process of teaching them how to act is teaching them how to not act when you aren't around. A necessary piece of teaching them what to and not-to do is knowing what they are doing when you are not around. This phone service could help in that regard.

      You know, that whole parenting thing?

      You don't have any children, do you?

      It's not parenting if you let a corporation or some gizmo do it for you...

      No, it's not. This, though, is not turning your parenting responsibilities to an Evil BigCo.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    2. Re:Mod those parents down! by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Part of the process of teaching them how to act is teaching them how to not act when you aren't around. A necessary piece of teaching them what to and not-to do is knowing what they are doing when you are not around. This phone service could help in that regard.

      If you are watching them, in what way are you not around ? And what happens when they turn 18 and you can't watch them anymore ? Methinks they are going to go do all the things - sex, drugs, booze, tobacco, rock'n'roll - they think they missed out because they had to carry the all-seeing eye with them.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    3. Re:Mod those parents down! by Da_Weasel · · Score: 1

      I agree...just because you track them with a service like this doesn't mean your not "parenting".

      Back in the days parents kept up with what their children were doing when they weren't around by word of mouth. If you did something, someone who knows you and your parents would have likely seen or heard about it...and it word of this would have made its way back to your parents.

      In todays large towns, and age of "mind your own business" this just doesn't happen anymore. It no longer takes a village....it takes a mesh network of cellular towers and a server farm....

      [Disclaimer: This post was both serious and silly, I leave it to you to figure out which parts are which]

      --
      If you must!
    4. Re:Mod those parents down! by geekoid · · Score: 1

      What a joke.

      Am I a poor parent becasue I don't sew my kids clothes, but instead let a corporation do it?
      I also let a corporation make my kids tooth paste. oh knoes!

      I also monitor my kids internet usage, comepter game playing and TV viewing! I must be a horrible parent, not letting my kids do whatever they want, whenever they want. Dear lord I set boundries! how will me kids be able to get along and be people with boundries in place! woes.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:Mod those parents down! by FreshlyShornBalls · · Score: 1

      Seriously though, whatever happened to taking your kids to school on horseback? You know, that whole parenting thing? It's not parenting if you let a school bus or some new-fangled automobile do it for you...

      --
      This space intentionally left blank.
    6. Re:Mod those parents down! by GreenPlastikMan · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying that anyone that does this is a horrible parent. But the general tendency in this country is over-reliance on technology or even the government to keep limit, censor, or in other ways curtail our children's exposure to the more seedy elements of life in our times.

      While, I can understand the motivation, wouldn't it be more effective to teach a kid what the proper boundaries and modes of behavior are, rather than just throwing up a bunch of "Don't Step On The Grass" signs?

      It's very similar to the violent video games cause violence in children argument. I have played just about every violent video game I could find. I enjoy it. But my parents raised me in a very reasoned way, and explained to me the issues underlying violent behavior. As such, I know that a game is just a game and that violence behavior is reprehensible in the real world. Violent video games does not cause violent behavior for people who understand the difference between right and wrong, and the difference between the real world and a virtual one.

      These distinctions come as a result of proper parenting, so that the child understands why there are limitations and chooses not to cross those lines and do something horrible or expose themselves to some of the terrors that prey on our children today. If you still wish to use technology or the government to put up additional limits at that point, that's fine. I'm just saying that if you teach someone why they shouldn't step on the grass, they are far less likely to step on the grass to spite the otherwise seemingly arbitrary sign that is ordering them to stay off the grass.

      Although, maybe I'm just a privacy-paranoid moron who believes that teaching our kids is better than limiting them.

    7. Re:Mod those parents down! by GreenPlastikMan · · Score: 1

      This was my point, I just didn't state it as well. So thanks ultranova

      I just think if you teach kids proper behavior, the difference between right and wrong, and the difference between safe and unsafe, you will cause them to make the right decisions. They'll choose to stay out of trouble far more than if you put up technological big-brother type limitations, especially these measures are easily circumvented.

    8. Re:Mod those parents down! by Nutria · · Score: 1

      If you are watching them, in what way are you not around?

      When he/she asks to go to the Library, the movies, the mall, etc.

      And what happens when they turn 18 and you can't watch them anymore ?

      You've never heard of "gradually giving them more responsibility and freedom", have you?

      Monitoring their location is part of the feed-back loop. If they show good responsibility and judgement, let them have more freedom. If not, rein them in for a while until they do exhibit enough responsibility.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    9. Re:Mod those parents down! by ultranova · · Score: 1

      When he/she asks to go to the Library, the movies, the mall, etc.

      And, since they'll have to carry the phone with them, your eye is present, and therefore, you are.

      You've never heard of "gradually giving them more responsibility and freedom", have you?

      Since my entire argument was that this kind of gradual increase doesn't happen with efficient enough monitoring devices available, it doesn't make much sense to ask me, now does it ?

      Monitoring their location is part of the feed-back loop. If they show good responsibility and judgement, let them have more freedom. If not, rein them in for a while until they do exhibit enough responsibility.

      Except that they aren't really exhibiting responsibility. They are pretending to, knowing that any transgression will be immediately noticed by the Eye of Goofy. Acting well when you know that someone with the power to punish you is looking is not responsible, it is self-protection.

      And when the Eye finally closes - as it must, once the kid reaches adulthood - and can do all the things - sex, drugs, tobacco, booze - he couldn't before because he knew for certain he'd get caught, what do you think he'll do ?

      This thing gives too much power to the parents. The sad fact is that you can't grow without experimenting, and you can't experiment if you are constantly under surveillance, since you have to concentrate on appearing good in front of whoever is surveying you. Consequently, when you reach adulthood, and the surveillance stops, you are still essentially a kid in maturity, and all hell will break lose when you finally get free.

      Apart from that, having to worry about pleasing someone every waking hour is too heavy load for anyone to bear. Kids may not have all the rights adults do, but they are still human beings, and you can't do just anything to them in the name of their own good.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    10. Re:Mod those parents down! by Nutria · · Score: 1

      And when the Eye finally closes - as it must, once the kid reaches adulthood - and can do all the things - sex, drugs, tobacco, booze - he couldn't before because he knew for certain he'd get caught, what do you think he'll do ?

      I can understand your point. My grandparents (who raised me) kept me firmly under thumb, and I went wild in University.

      OTOH, the kids I went to HS with, who's parents did not keep them under thumb, were wild in HS and college. Some still are, but I've definitely outgrown that rebeliousness.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  51. Re:Copyright enforcement? by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 1
    It's a cellphone, not a radio.

    All cellphones are radios. It's not like they are wired into the network after all. They emit and receive radio waves same as any other two-way radio, like a CB or walkie-talkie. They just operate on a higher frequency and use more complex modulation schemes.

  52. And kids need this why...? by Smerity · · Score: 1

    Yes, I can see the advantage of it being a GPS receiver. In the right hands, it can mean a lot more safety. I'd even consider it!

    The thing that got me was allows parents to decide who their children can call and when... This isn't teaching your child anything, it's imposing it on them. They're limited by numbers as opposed to their common sense!

    It's like my friend who was sent to bed by a (scarily) authoritive mother every night at 10pm. When he left home, he quickly hit a point of insomnia from his 'freedom' after staying up for days on end...

    I'm just waiting for the chaos when these kids suddenly get these limits turned off...

  53. Gentlemen start your lawyers by badzilla · · Score: 1

    The detail of TFA does not work for me (maybe because I don't have Flash) so it's not clear if the child has control over the degree to which they are subject to being GPS tracked. Looks to me though that this product amounts to "arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy" and so is in violation of UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 16.

    --
    "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
    1. Re:Gentlemen start your lawyers by Flower · · Score: 1
      Oh good grief it does not. First off everything there refers to "the State" aka the government. Is the state issuing mandatory Goofy phones? No. Article 16 does not apply.

      Article 15 talks about freedom of association. What? You're telling me I can't tell my kid I don't want him hanging around with Johnny because he gets in trouble all the time and his parents are never around to supervise him? I'm infringing on my kid's universal rights because I'm looking out for him? Puh-leeze.

      Apples. Oranges. They're kind of the same but are mostly different. Your assertation is not applicable here.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    2. Re:Gentlemen start your lawyers by ultranova · · Score: 1

      The detail of TFA does not work for me (maybe because I don't have Flash) so it's not clear if the child has control over the degree to which they are subject to being GPS tracked.

      He doesn't. I didn't read TFA, but think about it: if it is technically possible for the kid to limit the degree, the parent will know, and the result is the same as leaving the phone home or turning off the phone.

      "Accuracy or pain to the max, brat !"

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  54. Re:Agreement. by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 1

    Your wording is a little hard to dechiper, but what I think you're saying is:

    "Yeah, the kids will be able to dodge the monitoring: who cares? Behavior control isn't what tracking is for: if something bad and outside their control happens to them (kidnapping, traffic accident, lost and need you to help them figure out where they are) this makes the parents' aid much faster and more effective. That's the point." If this is what you're saying, I agree, on the grounds that it's what I recall my parents doing with the cell phone stuff when i was a kid(not a parent myself yet, praise Jesus).

    Amen to the hot plate thing, by the way. Those things still give me mild scars occasionally, and I'm two advanced degrees and a hundred fifty pounds past being a two years old. And don't get me started on restaurants overdoing the heated silverware...

    --
    ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
  55. Let Parents Track the Children by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 1

    This piece of hardware and service seems to be very useless especially in cities, where it is supposed to be more useful. That's why (in my opinion).
    1. The system should send messages with position data with increasing frequency when the child is in crowded places. This would lead to a wireless network (like GSM) overload.
    2. Whe wireless network could introduce dangerous message delivery latency.
    3. It won't work in almost all closed places because of either GPS or wireless network bad coverage.
    4. Once you know that your child is somewhere he shouldn't be in, what would you do? Call the Police and wait? Run there?
    5. The system can be removed and placed somewhere else.
    6. Nothing can prevent your child from calling using another phone.
    7. Nothing can prevent your child from being hurted.

    So it'd be much better to have parents watching over their own children. In person, I mean!
    Is your job, hobby, sport or shopping more important than your child's health and happiness?

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  56. secure is not a synonym for safe by geoff+lane · · Score: 1

    Why all these wimpy half solutions?

    Children should be chained down in the basement until the age of 25.

    Only by serious security can one protect offspring from the EVIL world.

  57. Re:Two Words by Jim_Callahan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pay. Phone.

    Cell phone wasn't ever for calling anyone but my parents anyhow: they got to look at the bill. I assume it's the same way nowadays, though perhaps kids have been struck by a strange stupidity-causing disease and can no longer remember seven-digit numbers or write them on a card in their wallet.

    --
    ...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
  58. Re:Agreement. by MrNougat · · Score: 1

    You're mostly right, but behavior control can be what tracking is for, too. If you craft the rules as "We know where you are, and if you don't answer your phone when we call it, there'll be hell to pay," then your kid has an incentive to be cool just knowing you could look up where they are at any moment, and might call.

    Should you, the parent, depend on a GPS phone as your only tether to your child when they're not within your range of view? No. Is a GPS phone an omniscient presence? No. Nothing wrong with letting your kids think it is, though.

    --
    Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
  59. SOMEBODY MOD THIS GUY INSIGHTFUL by Knnniggit · · Score: 1

    I had never thought about this before. Thank you.

    --
    Brain kills internet cells.
  60. Here's where it turns into money by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Have parents fill a form with the birthday of their kids. That way you know how old they are. Now, when you create a product targeted at some age range, all you have to do to sell that product is to find out where kids of a certain age tend to hang out.

    And you have the means to find the hangout place for kids with the cells they use. Usually, a company spends some big bucks for that kind of information. This way, parents will pay them to give that info.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  61. IT'S GOOFY TIME! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, dad! No!

    Goofy was always the sinister one, in my opinion.

  62. Teaching kids is so 80s. by Opportunist · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's not in fashion anymore to teach and raise your kids. Kids are to be controlled with as little hassle as possible. And "fortunately", today's technology makes that possible.

    I didn't have a cell when I was a kid. My parents couldn't track me. They also couldn't keep me from reading porn (despite the fact that there was no internet back then). They didn't manage to keep me away from booze, they couldn't keep me from reaching for the big bad hot stove, they didn't manage to keep me away from cigarettes.

    So I went places I shouldn't, got bruised and learned not to go there. I drank too much when I was about 13 and got a splitting headache the next day, and I learned not to drink. I reached for the stove, got burned and learned not to reach there. And I smoked a pack of cigs, puked my soul out and learned that I'm better off without.

    In other words, kids today are deliberately kept stupid, because they're forbidden to learn the really essential things in life.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Teaching kids is so 80s. by cdrguru · · Score: 1

      Sadly, when you grew up there were few things that would kill a child and not that many that would maim for life.

      Today, a child can read some porn, experiment with sex with a neighbor child and get AIDS. Result isn't knowledge but a very short painful life.

      Today, a child can walk into a mall and be abducted by someone that might, someday be caught. When we were children such a thing was unheard of because people in the area would stop it.

      Today, a child can misuse all sorts of kitchen tools which will remove fingers, hair or zap them with microwaves. When I grew up the only person I ever met with injuries like that was a girl that put her hand into a hand-cranked meat grinder and lost several fingers. Compare that to some of the more recent appliances.

      It is a lot more hazardous to be a child today. Yes, there has been some overreaction, but not as much as you would like to paint it.

  63. Price of Service by aureliusm · · Score: 1

    According to: "DISNEY MOBILE(TM) MADNESS SWEEPSTAKES OFFICIAL RULES"
    The value of prizes is as follows:
    Each Grand Prize will consist of a pair of Disney Mobile phone hand sets (approximate retail value ("ARV"): $260) plus an $80 per month service plan for twelve (12) months (ARV: $960). (ARV of each Grand Prize: $1,220).

  64. technology and child predators by proudhawk · · Score: 1

    and what is to stop some pedophile from getting these
    and giving them out to kids?

    this kind of technology (in its current form) can be abused
    in frightening ways.

    consider a situation where such a child predator hands out
    phones to unsuspecting kids. said phonmes are setup such
    that you cannot make outgoing calls. at that point, its no
    more than a "harmless toy" and most parents will see it as such.

    then, at some future point (days, weeks, etc) said predator
    snatches the kid(s).

    I dare say it gives a person pause to think of the ugly
    possibilities of abuse of such a potentially "helpful" technology.

    how would we make sure that the right people (parents) get these
    devices?

    --
    Understanding is much like a 3-edged-sword. in this: there are always 2 sides and the truth.
  65. *chirp*chirp*chirp* by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but they work like phones, which are a technological advancement over the wallkie talkie. Which is why i dont understand the fucking walkie talkie features on cell phones now and fly into a rage when i hear that *chirp*. Ahhhhh!

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  66. What about brain damage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One thing everybody seems to forget is that a many studies demonstrated that cell phones should not be used by young kids. Their brain is in development and their skull is not as dense as it should for cell phone usage.

    I did not made that up. UK authorities have even emitted warnings that children should use cell phones only in case of emergencies. Now we will let them carry a device that will transmit all day long.

    Would you put your kid in a microwave oven ... even at ultra-low power?

    The regulations for those kind of emissions are really really outdated. They were written when cell phones did not even existed. The regulation that stipulate that cell phone are harmless is that a cell phone should not raise the temperature of your brain by more than 1'C. How many of your neurons are being blasted to create that 1'C raise is not important.

    I think that the marketing guys who designed cell phone for kids (Firefly, Goofy, ...) just to increase market share are pure criminals.

  67. This is great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would love to have my phone (however, not one as childish as that) be able to tell my parents exactly where I am, as long as only they can see it and I can disabled it directly on the phone with a password. I already tell them almost every time where I am going, so privacy (as long it's only them) is not an issue. (If it matters, I'm more than 20 years old.) The extra security of having someone else always know where I am would be great.

  68. corporal punishment by mapkinase · · Score: 0

    Instead of the tricks, go straight to the bottom: corporal punishment should be a norm, not an excuse to sell your parents to the police.

    Vast majority of parents are sensible responsible people and won't abuse this method of upbringing. In 99% of the cases just the knowledge that parents have a right to kick your butt real hard would prevent kids from desobeying and, ergo, the harsh punishment.

    Kids will respect the parents, teachers, education system, education in general and mature much faster than they do now.

    As a result, we will get a society that will be able to compete technologically with China and India.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  69. It's not really that difficult to track your kid.. by LittleGuy · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... it's a small world, after all.

    --
    Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
  70. asymmetrical relationships... by pointbeing · · Score: 1
    ...Morally, I wouldn't find it so bad if it were consentual and reciprocal - if the kids could track wherever their parents went ... including one parent cheating on another or visits to strip joints. After all, if you have nothing to hide...

    This assumes the relationship between parent and child is symmetrical. It is not and should not be - my children's consent is not required before I check up on them.

    I've never told my children or anyone else that I had nothing to hide. What I may or may not have to hide is usually none of my children's business. My sexual behavior is *certainly* none of their business. My children are not responsible for me; I am, however, morally and legally responsible for them. Again, in a properly functioning family the relationship between parent and child is asymmetrical.

    As said earlier, trust but verify.

    --
    we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
    -- anais nin
  71. Japan has had this for years... by CompShrink · · Score: 1

    And yet again, I laugh at America falling behind.

    Japan has had this pretty widely available for years. And it hasn't been used for pedophilia as far as I have heard, unlike say cell phone cameras, which now all make an unmutable sound when you take a picture.

    The reason? Silent cell phone cameras are great for taking upskirt pictures on crowded trains, and the internet exploded with upskirts soon after cell cameras became popular here.

    Back on topic, the tracking and limits are a tool for parents, not a replacement for parenting. Why is it a tool, not a replacement? Well, if you don't look at where your kids are, this new cell doesn't do much. It's not a border enforcing shock-treatment item (yet).

    1. Re:Japan has had this for years... by punkr0x · · Score: 1
      Japan has had this pretty widely available for years. And it hasn't been used for pedophilia as far as I have heard, unlike say cell phone cameras, which now all make an unmutable sound when you take a picture. The reason? Silent cell phone cameras are great for taking upskirt pictures on crowded trains, and the internet exploded with upskirts soon after cell cameras became popular here.

      Don't you see! Japan doesn't have rednecks! So they invent all this great technology, then they send it over here, and some guy in Kentucky realizes "Hey, I could use this to have sex with 6 year olds!" and ruins it for everyone.

    2. Re:Japan has had this for years... by IvanTheViking · · Score: 1

      Silent cell phone cameras are great for taking upskirt pictures on crowded trains, and the internet exploded with upskirts soon after cell cameras became popular here.

      I think this is why most camera phones that are being sold today have a sound everytime the shutter is clicked, be it a typical shutter sound, or a quack, etc..
      In my i870 phone from Nextel, I have not found a way to completely mute the shutter sound, only make it soft.

    3. Re:Japan has had this for years... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      It has nothing to do with 'falling behind'.

      Technology is not as importwnt in the US as it is in Japan. This technology has been around for a long time, just not a lot of people interested in it.

      "Japan has had this pretty widely available for years. And it hasn't been used for pedophilia as far as I have heard, unlike say cell phone cameras, which now all make an unmutable sound when you take a picture."

      Yes, the pedophilia issue doesn't make any sence with this product.

      Of course, forcing a camera to make a noise does nothing but add a false sense of security to the situation. People who want to do that will modify the camera in some manner to remove the sound.

      I am tempted to make a remark about how the Japanese must be tio stupid to mod a piece of trechnology, but I'll take the high road instead.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  72. parenting and technology... by pointbeing · · Score: 1
    ...When I was 15, my parents were pretty lenient about what I could do so long as I a) told them where I'd be b) who I'd be with and c) prove it (usually a phone call from me to check in). Not having a cell phone made it kindof a pain sometimes. Now parents can maintain the same rules but also give their kids a greater sense of freedom.

    Excerpt of real conversation between my youngest son and me a few years back. Kid knows that if he wants his curfew extended he must contact me early enough that he can still get home on time if I say no. 10pm curfew. At 9:30pm, the phone rings.

    Dad: Hello?

    Kid: Hi, Dad. I'm at so and so's house still. Can I stay out an extra hour?

    Dad: No. Come home immediately. I'll see you in fifteen minutes.

    Kid: That's not fair. My curfew isn't for another half hour.

    Dad: That's true, but you blocked caller ID before you called me. That leads me to believe you don't want me to know where you are. I'll see you in a few minutes.

    Kid: But...

    Dad: Do you need a ride home? I can come and get you if you need me to.

    Kid: No. I'll be home in a few minutes.

    Dad: Okay. See you soon.

    Another case of technologically-enhanced parenting ;-)

    --
    we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
    -- anais nin
  73. Kids privacy rights: by hummassa · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Up to age of twelve: none whatsoever. Kids of that age are still prone to do things and talk to people they should not. They may have _one_ or _two_ harmless secrets; parents who know how to do stuff keep always one of them "in the loop", so while the other does _not_ know the secret, it knows it's a harmless one. Children must be encouraged to be frank at all times, but _especially_ with their parents.

    Up to age of sixteen: some privacy. Kids must change their clothes without parents coming. Thirteen year-olds of either sex have the sacred right of masturbating. They can have private conversations with people of the same age. They can keep some secrets, or chose not to tell some things (like they had sex with a person of the same age) up to a most adequate moment -- but they do not have the right to conceal that they are breaking the household rules.

    Up to the age of eighteen (emancipation age on your jurisdiction here): good privacy. They are young adults that have the right of doing anything that is not forbidden by the household rules. They do _not_ have the right to break the rules. (At my jurisdiction at least) Parents cannot throw them out the door, so they must live under the book. They can be grounded and their privacy can be revoked in case of disobedience.

    From there: they are adults. They can break the rules of the household, provided they work and get their own money and get out of the house. They are entitled to the highest level of privacy: nothing should be broken without probable cause. And it's a police matter, not a parental one.

    Yes, I have a 6yo boy and a newborn baby girl. This are my parenting rules, and my boy knows them by heart. We are friendly with each other; I deal with his mistakes in a friendly manner. He trusts me that an eventual punishment will always be proportional to his misbehaviour. And he trusts that I love him. I think I can pull it off.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  74. Goofy like a fox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out this article from a group who want to use the sex offender registry to notify parents when their child is close to a pervs home.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060405/ap_on_hi_te/ce ll_alert

  75. The most popular hack... by GigG · · Score: 1

    The most popular hack will be the "At the Library" mod.

    --
    Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    1. Re:The most popular hack... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Indeed, that hack is quite simple:

      1. Go to the library.
      2. Leave the library without the phone.
      3. Afterwards, come to the library again, to fetch your phone.

      Only problem is to make sure that no one steals your phone in the mean time. But then, who would be silly enough to steal a tracked phone?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    2. Re:The most popular hack... by GigG · · Score: 1

      Indeed, that hack is quite simple:

      1. Go to the library.
      2. Leave the library without the phone.
      3. Afterwards, come to the library again, to fetch your phone.

      Only problem is to make sure that no one steals your phone in the mean time. But then, who would be silly enough to steal a tracked phone?


      One thing you are forgetting. A lot of the kids have not a clue as to where the library is in the first place.

      --
      Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
  76. Re:Two Words by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1
    I assume it's the same way nowadays, though perhaps kids have been struck by a strange stupidity-causing disease and can no longer remember seven-digit numbers or write them on a card in their wallet.

    Is there any cell phone today which is not able to store phone numbers? Generally there's no need to type in a number manually more than once (to store it on the phone).
    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  77. Got An Unruly Kid? by pedalman · · Score: 1

    Put your kid in the woods with the phone and put out the word to geocachers ( http://www.geocaching.com/ ). First geocacher to find the cache gets to keep said kid.

    --
    Friends don't let friends line-dance.
  78. Re:It's not really that difficult to track your ki by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a world of laughter
    A world of tears
    It's a world of hopes
    And a world of fears
    There's so much that we share
    That it's time we're aware
    It's a small world after all

    There is just one moon
    And one golden sun
    And a smile means
    Friendship to ev'ryone
    Though the mountains divide
    And the oceans are wide
    It's a small world after all

    It's a small world after all
    It's a small world after all
    It's a small world after all
    It's a small, small world

  79. china has this kind of service years ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in a way, censorship helps the advance of the technology.

    http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2004/1 2/006392.htm

  80. accuracy by punkr0x · · Score: 1

    Really, how accurate is GPS? You can't look at a satelite feed and say, "Holy crap, Jimmy is behind the school smoking pot!" I could see it being useful for abduction cases but not much else, unless your child is flying across the country behind your back. What these over-protective types REALLY need is those cool satelite cameras that can zoom right in on their child's nose, like they had in Enemy of the State. And a speaker implanted in the child's ear so they can yell at them remotely.

  81. Sorry, Steve's not here by Supercrunch · · Score: 1

    Maybe you were just being sarcastic, but Steve Jobs probably had nothing to do with this. Disney Mobile has been in the works since at least last summer. I had signed up on the Disney Mobile web page months ago.

  82. Uh, wait a second... by kbonapart · · Score: 2, Funny

    Family friendly indeed. Your Big Brother really loves it.

    --
    There are no gods but ourselves.
  83. Your an idiot by geekoid · · Score: 1

    " and what is to stop some pedophile from getting these
    and giving them out to kids?"
    practicallity.
    They would be easy to catch, spend a lot of money, and the parents are going to wonder where it came from.

    "this kind of technology (in its current form) can be abused
    in frightening ways."
    this applies to all technology. You same arguement could be applied to automobiles.

    "consider a situation where such a child predator hands out
    phones to unsuspecting kids. said phonmes are setup such
    that you cannot make outgoing calls. at that point, its no
    more than a "harmless toy" and most parents will see it as such."
    No, they won't.

    "then, at some future point (days, weeks, etc) said predator
    snatches the kid(s)."

    See, if the predetor was close enough to give the child a phone, they could have taken the child.

    "how would we make sure that the right people (parents) get these
    devices?"

    because the wrong people don't need them.

    most abuse come from family members, and other 'trusted' sources.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  84. Obligatory PLIF Comic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  85. When I was a kid.... by Geoff · · Score: 1

    Back when I was a kid (1970s), we had something called "Moms." There were several of them in the neighborhood, and they all knew each other and formed an ad hoc reconnaissance network, to keep tabs on all the kids in the neighborhood. There was a chain of custody, maintained by requisite protocols, "Can I go play at Jesse's house?" The moms had devices called telephones whereby they could call the mom with current custody to verify location of a child, request said child come home for dinner, or just catch up on the latest neighborhood news.

    Yep, when I was a kid we didn't need these new-fangled cell phone things. We had something far more insidious.

    --

    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso

  86. In the not too distant future... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mother: Do you want to go to Disney World this Summer?

    Son: Do I have to?

  87. Easily defeated by Locke2005 · · Score: 1
    Although I would be a bit suspicious if I saw one of my neighbors installing a faraday cage in the back of his windowless van.

    One of the common misconceptions about GPS is the beleif that it works everywhere. It doesn't. Kids with the phone would be constantly disappearing from the map as they go through tunnels, into large buildings, get into cars, go into valleys or even walk between large buildings... and each time this happens, the parents paranoid enough to spring for one of these to track their precious offspring are going to go into panic mode.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  88. Will they patent it ? by smeenz · · Score: 1
    Being Disney, I expect they'll patent the idea of tracking your children with a GPS-enabled cellphone

    And all this prior work will conveniently disappear overnight for them.

  89. How long until GPS and bugs are mandated in cars? by EaglesNest · · Score: 1
    OnStar and other services that mount GPS and a cell phone into a car (albeit disguised as an emergency service) are cool. Not only can the FBI track where you are anytime they want -- they can also listen into your conversations without having to even bug your car. You've already paid the manufacturer to do it for them.

    How long will it be until for "our own protection" we are required to have GPS and cell service in our car that the FBI can use to listen to all our conversations and track our location?

    For those of who you believe this is a fairy tale, there is already plenty of evidence that the FBI has attempted (and succeeded?) in doing just this. See In re the Application of the U.S. for an Order Authorizing the Roving Interception of Oral Communications, 349 F.3d 1132 (9th Cir. 2003).

  90. Resistance Is Futile by Frozen+Void · · Score: 1

    parent[irony] ^+10 Insightful. Best example.My opinion:

    What technology brings to hands of people is going to affect them long-term. I'm sure there enough parents to exercise their will and the brain implant joke would sound bitter in next century,where tech will be widespread.
    Myabe not starting in implants but tracking,control and enforcement of simple things, making
    children eat "right food",watch "right movies", and play with "good children only" will be much easier. I assume children who get out of "control"(if control is going to be human) would seriously teach the controller a lesson in free will.
    Now,its easy to get into the idea controlling your children is beneficial "for their own good". Reducing crime and juvenilia,pranks,drug abuse,bad influence from their peers,etc.
    Thinking of average people who like to do everything the easy way,and parenting is no exception,it predictable what the course society will come to.
    I just wonder what the children of those parents will do in their own families?
    Will they stop the practice or be forced into compliance with new laws of "social order" that can possible include such
    implants to make Everyone a civil,friendly,law-abiding borg.
    I don't call it end of humanity,just imagine if computers regulated crime and
    welfare of society.It going to be like Matrix...just without the Matrix

  91. GPS Cellular Tracking by voldennis · · Score: 1

    A company called PROCON has a GPS cellular device that gets installed in your car (can't be seen or detected). You can track your car online in real time. Works nation wide. If my car gets stolen I can track it on any pc and give the exact location to the police. It also has remote door unlock and starter disable. Their website is www.proocnlbs.com

  92. You're right but you've got it all wrong... by gd23ka · · Score: 1

    Actually the last thing we need is an independent functional adult. We'd like them to be very dependent adults and as functional as we need them to be, no more.

  93. You're right but you've got it all wrong... by gd23ka · · Score: 1

    Actually the last thing we need is an independent functional adult. We'd like them to be very dependent adults
    and as functional as we need them to be, but no more than that.

  94. Re:So I guess if they had that when I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... I would just break it and throw it away. I'm another generation so this may sound terrible to you but every kid had it coming one way or the other in my time. My parents usually beat the living shit out of me, especially when I did something that cost them money. But much as I hate to be whipped I hate to be watched and monitored even more. So I suppose the first time around I would get slapped like crazy but that's all. Then after they got me another one I would lose that too and I guess the old man would then be furious enough to whip me with his belt. Another goofy monitor lost would probably earn me another even harder session with the belt. I guess two more goofies lost would buy me freedom. This is really getting me upset and I'm not going to post this with my slashdot id but maybe someone will slap a underrated +1 on it. The point though is, I guess the kids just need to lose these things often enough, take their lickings or whatever punishment they get and after a couple of hundred $$$ their parents aren't going to bother with it anymore.

  95. Re:So I guess if they had that when I was a kid by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 1
    The point though is, I guess the kids just need to lose these things often enough, take their lickings or whatever punishment they get and after a couple of hundred $$$ their parents aren't going to bother with it anymore.

    Screw whipping, that's not the way to break you. I'd take away your freedom. First grounding. If that doesn't work, I take away your stuff -- music, stereo, video games, etc. If that doesn't work, I take your door of your hinges so you'd have no privacy. If that doesn't work, the ultimate punishment.

    I go to school with you and follow you around all day, and embarrass you.

    Believe me, I WILL win the war. I can make your life far more miserable than you can imagine.

    --
    Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  96. Re:Copyright enforcement? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

    Stupider than the SSSCA/CBDTPA proposals?