Make Cell-phones work for you, trace anyone, anytime!
Skip contentWe receive a lot of e-mails from people who expect that their cell phones are able to do anything and everything. While handsets are packed with features, it's not possible for each handset to do something that another does. The closest analogy would be that like a PC, the user needs to load the requisite software onto the mobile phone. Even then there are limits to what the handset can do. A couple of worried parents who thought their child was definitely drifting into bad company wanted me to tell them how to trace the child since the phone has GPS; a sentiment echoed by a jealous boyfriend who wanted to keep tabs on his girl. While it may sound funny, it wouldn't be if you received such kinds of e-mails and then had to patiently give replies that it is nearly impossible except for emergency services to do this since it literally 'invades the privacy' of the individual. I told them they would be better off hiring the services of a professional detective in case they were so concerned.
Anyway it came across as no great surprise when I came to know about this new invention. Thinking that there must be a lot of people who would be interested in this product, I lost no time in getting this on the site. A couple of Indian engineers (for those of you who did not guess, yup they are from the esteemed IIT) have created a fabulous product. The software or product in question operates using the concept that a cell phone will use the nearest reception tower for getting the signal. It basically uses the network parameters of orientation of cell sites across the city. It is not based on GPS and this makes the software work on older handsets as well which do not have GPS. The trio of Nitin Seth, Nikhilesh Ghushe and Mandeep Singh who are all in their early twenties; created this software in about 5 months after graduation. They recently tested it out on a sample crowd of 300 subscribers in an exhibition and declared it a success. The test was carried out in Mumbai (Bombay), India. Mr. Seth mentioned that they were in the process of procuring a GIS based (Geographical Information Systems) Database, before they can successfully implement it all over the city.
The software being a permission based one will not invade the privacy of the individual which would be the prime concern of everyone. There are three options that the software shall provide; the tracked mobile user may allow one time checking or unlimited access. The third option allows the mobile user to deny access. The software brings to mind several uses such as can be used by parents on children to confirm that they are attending school / college. It can also be used by corporates to check whether the executives are on call or are goofing off. The person who wishes to track the cell phone user may do so by using his or her own cell phone or by using the internet. In the earlier case the location is replied to the person in the form of a sms.
As with all technological achievements, it is not the technology that is good or bad rather it depends on the intent of the user. However we cannot progress simply because it can be misused, however there need to be strict privacy laws in place by all the governments of the world. The hue and cry over mobile phone cameras being misused all over the world is proof enough that the future will come at an expensive price your privacy.
The above article was written by Yash Desai of Phoneyworld.com, and is printed with the permission of the author. Read more such articles on www.phoneyworld.com.
