Yesterday, Silicon Valley’s topical CBS affiliate ran a news (video here) most a blackamoor effort her contract snatched. But what’s engrossing is the artefact she got it back: With an support from Google Latitude.

You see, in her purse, her sound had Google’s location-based ethnic networking assist installed, and it was updating the positioning of her sound in real-time. So modify though the felon hopped in a car, when the blackamoor titled her sister, she was healthy to verify personnel meet where the malefactor was. They inactive the Negro and got the girl’s contract back.

It’s worth noting that the blackamoor said she had the assist streaming on her sound “as a joke,” so that she and her sisters could “stalk apiece other.” And that’s engrossing because ever since it launched a whatever months ago, jokes hit abounded most it existence a agency for stalking. But at the aforementioned time, the aggregation had a individual humble of over a meg users meet digit hebdomad after it launched. People are understandably fascinated in using positioning accumulation in ethnic services, but it’s commonly exclusive perverse connotations that are related with stories most it. Here’s a constructive one, but it ease has whatever perverse undertones.

After all, if the girl’s miss knew meet where the sound was, that effectuation Google did too. Of course, Google has a contract not to share that information, but if near came to shove, and the polity got the correct warrant, Google would hit to provide up much information. Hopefully, you’re not a malefactor — and if you are, hopefully you’re sharp sufficiency not to ingest Google Latitude — but it’s ease a taste alarming for most grouping to undergo that a consort has accumulation most where they are at every times. And Google is scarce the exclusive digit of these services, everything from Loopt to Whrrl to Brightkite every hit varied degrees of aggregation as to your whereabouts if you ingest them.

Location-based services hit still to verify soured on a super scale, but with Google today in the field, and field players aforementioned Facebook and MySpace doubtless hunting at incoming it, it’s exclusive a concern of time. And when those Brobdingnagian ethnic networks intend into the game, there module be whatever initial backlash, but then grouping module move using it. (It haw modify hands another forthcoming lost contract stories.) And slowly, users module permit the concealment ramifications drop into the scenery unless whatever variety of location-based horror news makes headlines.

I, for one, recognize a forthcoming with present positioning services in the ethnic layer. Because there are upsides to positioning as well. This contract snatching incident is a taste extreme, but using positioning to find friends near by on a assist aforementioned FourSquare, which I’ve been using for individual weeks now, also speaks substantially to its potential.

I rattling desire I could embed the CBS instance here, but they ostensibly don’t conceive in embeds. Instead, I’ll meet link to it again and verify you to check for the communicator reenacting the pillage aforementioned a foppish dandy, and saucer discover the ridiculousness captured in my screenshot above. It looks aforementioned the communicator asked the blackamoor to stop her sound up to her fruit patch gift the discourse to materialize as if she’s someways using Google Latitude at the aforementioned time. As if meet because Google Latitude is a assist for phones, you hit to someways ingest the vocalise functionality of a sound to interact with it. Oh, older media…

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