Mobile Phone Reviews
 
 
Mobile phone technology creating cyber sleuths

Mon, 06 Feb 2006

British companies are taking advantage of mobile phone tracking technology by using it to keep an eye on their staff, vehicles and stock.

According to companies who offer tracking services here has been a huge increase in interest recently from businesses who want to optimise efficiency.

For those bosses who have used the technology gained positive results. They could tell if workers were actually held up in a traffic jam instead of the pub or they could locate staff quickly and re-direct them.

However there are groups such as Liberty the civil rights group who are not happy with the technology and what it is being used for. They say the rise in tracking and monitoring raises concerns about privacy.

Kevin Brown, operations director from Followus, a tracking company said due to strict regulations there was nothing covert about tracking. He said, "An employee has to consent to having their mobile tracked. A company can't request to track a phone without the user knowing.

"Under government rules we send random alerts to each phone we track, informing the user they are being monitored."

To track a mobile phone all that is needed is computer and an internet connection. A mobile phone becomes an electronic tag once it is activated for tracking. The phones approximate position can be followed using the service provider’s web site.

There was a lot of interest from private individuals when the service was launched in 2003. These individuals were looking to track their partners to see if they really were working late but many were disappointed.

Brown said, "You can forget about borrowing your partner's phone and 'consenting' to being tracked because the random alerts will blow that ruse."

The main benefit of being able to track staff is for their own safety. Brown said, "Some businesses want to keep an eye on their staff. Some feel they have an obligation to know where staff, are in case of emergencies."

According to Brown Followus now had 50,000 subscribers and the number was growing by approximately 5,000 per month.
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.