Big Mother is watching you

We've written a lot this year about the ways technology is making it easier for parents to spy on their kids. Reading their text messages remotely without them knowing. Finding out and controlling what they're buying for lunch. What's next, a homing device imprinted on their hippocampus that tracks where kids are going and what they're thinking?

Well, almost. Today, Dallas company Websafety will unveil a platform for mobile phones that allows parents to set predefined areas where their child can go, to track their child going to these areas and to be alerted if the child strays from said area. It also disables text messaging when a phone is moving at more than 10 mph (i.e., in a car -- or on that bad kid's motorcycle).

Oh yeah, and it also notifies parents if their child contacts someone they don't approve of or types a word or abbreviation that is too sexual or bully-ish. (And you thought those leashes parents put on little kids were restrictive.)

"We believe that parents are looking for better mechanisms to monitor what is going on with their child," said Chris Wylie, president of Websafety.

The software, available on GPS-enabled phones that run on Android, Windows Mobile 5.0 and higher and Symbian operating systems, uses GPS technology to track where the child is at all times. The software costs $9.99 a month, which is a small price to pay for the ability to know where your child is 24/7. How else are you going to find out what he's getting you for Christmas?

Parents need only to log onto the Web to check where their child is. They don't even have to do anything to prevent their kid from texting while driving. The phone will automatically shut down if someone tries to text on it while they're driving. Unless they're stuck in traffic. Then they can text away (at least until January, when it becomes illegal in California).

When asked if it wasn't just a little creepy for a parent to monitor a child to such a degree, Wylie responded that the teen will know when the parent checks his location online, so his privacy will be somewhat protected.

"We didn't want to have it be too Big Brother," he said.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo by half empty via Flickr

Comments

[Eric Lee]

Wow. This is a sad, sad example of the market getting too involved in family issues. Why can't a child have his or her privacy, and more importantly, why do parents have to rely on some expensive contraption rather than on the bond of trust they could share with their kid if they worked on creating a stronger relationship.

[Jake]

A question if a kid gets their privacy is between the child and the parent. Some parents feel it is necessary for them to know where they go, especially for teenagers. If a kid doesn't do anything wrong then they have nothing to fear. Some parents do screw up in raising their kid and there is little to no bond. This may help them control the kid. I don't find that there's anything wrong with this program. It's no different than parents asking kids for a drug test.

[Megan]

It is scary to think that any adult would see this as an invasion of privacy. Since when is parenting synonymous with just hoping your kids will do what you say, rather than putting in place parameters to ensure they are doing so? This is no different than calling the parents of a home where your child is attending a party to ensure they in fact are going to be there, and that's not done to control, but to PROTECT. A parents responsibility is not just love and have a beautiful relationship with their child, but protect them from themselves, other kids, and PREDATORS, and something like this makes it possible for them to do so. Do we need more proof that many teens have a problem identifying the consequences of their actions and therefore take unnecessary risks that their parents have warned them against - such as going to locations that are dangerous? I trust my children, but I'm going to do everything within my power to demonstrate my love through parental protection, not just hoping they'll see me as their friend. And $10 a month hardly seems expensive to me. Finding out where they're shopping for you for Christmas? Could you be more smart a** about something that is going to translate directly to saving children's lives from disabling texting alone, finding kids that have gone missing? A shortsighted write up, and seems to have been done by someone who doesn't understand the true responsibilities of a parent.

[J.Dresdo]

Alana- a quick online google tells me you're in your 20's. Maybe when you have kids, or kids who are a bit older, you'll appreciate some of these safety tools.

Why don't you ask John Walsh his opinion of this technology? If it was available at the time, Adam could have been with us today.