Posted on 10/27/2009 5:42:32 PM PDT by luckybogey
GPS device can track children
Updated: Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT Published : Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT
KELLY JOYCE | FOX 35 News
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A GPS device the size of your pinky finger is about to hit store shelves and the web. Some parents say it's a good way to keep track of children given all of the children disappearing in central Florida.
The "insignia little buddy tracker" is a Best Buy brand GPS system that's about to hit store shelves.
It's already drawn so much interest it's on back order on the Best Buy website , and it comes with software that allows you to put in settings of where your child is supposed to be during certain times of the day. If your child leaves that designated area you will get an alert on your phone or email.
If you ask grandmother Midda Garcia, the Little Buddy Tracker can't show up soon enough. "Definitely something I would use," she says. "Definitely! At least you're gonna know where your child is at."
The Little Buddy Tracker costs $100 and is expected to hit store shelves in the next few weeks.
Gonna buy one for each of my dogs!
Big question is the monthly fee. I haven’t found any information anywhere. I did find one comment where a person said they called Best Buy and they didn’t have the info.
I want one for my child’s school bus.
I have a similar problem. My dog has a habit of chasing deer. A few minutes ago a big buck approached, snorted, and the chase was on. If I don’t catch my dog in time, it sometimes takes me hours to get him back.
Even if it is fully encrypted and digital, if you can track your child, ANYONE with the requisite hacking skills (or the ability to pay or blackmail someone with the requisite hacking skills) can track your child. The encryption itself could be close enough to impossible to break, but the trick would be for a hacker to break into the PC/smartphone/device that the child is being tracked with. From there, they could either directly track it from the parents’ device, or they could find the encryption key (that ‘matches’ the device with the actual GPS unit, it’s like the ‘decoder ring’ for the encryption) that would allow them to track it from whichever device they wanted (and this may or may not simultaneously ‘lock out’ the parents’ device, but I don’t know since they’re obviously not going to release such details). There are a million ways hackers could get into it from the parents’ end.
Really, “Little Brother” would be a much more apt name for such a device. I understand parents wanting to know where their child is, but get them a GPS-equipped cell phone - in any case but a stranger abduction (which are quite rare) the cell phone will probably be turned on, and in the case of a non-custodial kidnapping the kidnapper could actually do things with a GPS device that could lead to a false trail for police.
Oh, and “all the young children disappearing in central Florida”? This is a really bad-sounding thing to say, but they need to consider realistic possibilities - is this thing, erm, acid-resistant? I mean, it IS Florida, after all...
You can get tracking devices for dogs, but the whole system is around $500. The difference is that the dog tracking systems are waterproof and come with a portable receiver-transmitter and a couple of collars. That’s too much of an investment for me.
My dog likes to chase rabbits, and has on about six different occasions pulled apart the chain link fence with her teeth enough to crawl through. One time she was gone for three days.
I’d like to stick on of these on HER.
LOL. I didn’t think of that. Or, hubby will be hiding it in wifey’s car. ;-)
This thing will sell like Ice Cream in the summer. Unfortunately, it brings us one step closer to Revelation Chapter 13.
Revelation 13 (New International Version)
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16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
They finally publicized the fees today - $15/month unlimited use and $1 pay per use.
The $1 per use would be nice for tracking valuables. No regular costs until you actually need it.
Thanks. Silly me! I did not realize there was a monthly fee/plan involved. I thought the software came with the unit. Now it makes more sense...
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