AT&T launches FamilyMap service, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere
So check this: AT&T just launched a service called FamilyMap. It basically let’s you locate any number on your AT&T account for a monthly fee. Here’s the thing though… besides the first notification text message alerting that subscriber they are being tracked, everything else is completely silent. For instance, we signed up and were able to track both an iPhone 3G and a Bold completely without any visible indication. No text message, nothing. What’s even more strange, however, is that this isn’t just using cell tower triangulation, it actually can activate the GPS chip. How messed up is that? Something is wrong with this picture… But hey, for only $9.99/month for two phones or $14.95 for five phones, you can have the pleasure of being as freaked out as we are.
Thanks, James!
@Roger A-”so few GSM phones actually HAVE a GPS chip, most still rely on cell tower triangulation.”
Blackberry 8110, 8310, 8800, and 8820, AT&T 8525, HTC Fuze & Quickfire, Samsung Blackjack 2, Epic, Propel, Propel Pro, Eternity, Rugby and Impression, LG Incite and CF360, Motorola V9x, Z9, Q9h, and Tundra, Pantech Matrix and Matrix Pro, Nokia 6650, E71x, iPhone 3G and Sony W760 are all GPS equipped. Yeah, it’s only the majority of at&t’s current lineup, but who’s counting? A year or so ago, your argument would have been valid regarding GSM and GPS, but times have changed.
BGR, did it activate the GPS chip on both the bold nad IPhone? The IPhone normally brings up a pop-up saying “x application wants to use the GPS chip, do you want to allow it?”
Did that not happen?
DON’T TELL MY MOM!!!!!!!
Hell, Sprint has had this for ages. In fact it’s the ONLY feature that I missed from my Sprint days.
Think about being the parent of a Teenager as I am. Kids say they are in one place, but I can tell they are not. It’s a no brainer feature to have in this case.
Yeah and all phones listed for this feature will recieve random text messages letting them know they can be tracked at anytime.
You just can’t put this on and not let anybody know.
Hmm, as a CSR for Big Blue, this is the first I have heard of it, wish I had seen this at work today, I would have asked my boss about it. I will definetely look tommorrow though. It looks like a neat feature, but this only means two things to me…More training, and trying to sell a feature that people are just not going to want to add because they are calling in to drop as many features as they can to reduce their bill. Yay for me!!
Anyone whom has a smartphone can do this for free via google latitude, save yourself 15 dollars a month. Once you sign up you can have your location shown on google maps COST = 0.00
Google latitude is significantly limited:
Android-powered devices with Maps v3.0 and above.
Most color BlackBerry devices
Most Windows Mobile 5.0 and above devices. Note: Some Windows Mobile devices don’t support cell-ID location detection.
Most Symbian S60 devices
All your base are belong to us!
Bob it’s not about willingly giving your location, it’s about being on a plan with someone, ie parent, employer, significant other, and them having the ability to track you. Or your the acct. holder and want to track someone without them knowing when you’re doing it…
@mom of teen Sorry to hear that your son is smoking pot, but honestly, tracking your son with this service isn’t going to stop him. He will only resent your more. This is just a band aid for a deeper issue. Anyway, yeah, where has our privacy gone.. this blows,, and no, I hope that other cell phone companies font follow suit.
Yes, Sprint did launch this already. It was called Sprint Family Locator. And when previous posters said it was a “while” ago what they meant was THREE YEARS AGO. Thank you ATT for the original idea.
lol I can see it now, “why is my battery draining so quickly?” Because you’re being tapped.
im excited for this. Good way to track a stolen phone. Good way to knowbwhere your teen is at or if your youngster made it home safe from school. Or if youre kid is having a diabetic episode you can find them immediately. people really need to get over the big brother concerns. Its only loaded onto family accounts anyway.
@Justin-You are absolutely right. Leaving on a GPS program DOES tap the battery, even if running in the background. I have seen people leave on Telenav on BBs and their battery life is less than half of what it should be otherwise. Paranoid Parents: if your concern is your child’s safety, consider that your child might be LESS safe if they have a dead battery and cannot call out!
I noticed whomever wrote the article left out the fact that by saying “family” members, it means only those wireless handsets on YOUR account, and not any handset that is out there. I would suggest that the facts not be skewed.
@ mom of teen,
Seeing as your child admitted to smoking pot, why the need to digitally stalk him? Were you not a kid? Did you not experiment with substances (if not drugs, I can be almost certain you drank before you were of legal age)? It is one thing for the feds to be able to track you, although i am not a fan of the idea, but something all together different when a private citizen can. And to all the potential stalking bf’s and gf’s; grow the fuck up, a little trust goes a long way.
I can just see what this will lead to. A kid saying they will be somewhere and then the GPS moves so the parent calls like “where are you going!?!” and the kid is like “um to the store to get some chocolate milk” and the parent will clearly not believe this. and the kid gets in trouble because he didnt stay put, even out of the house.
and just wait until the kid goes into the theater and gps cant get a signal and goes into cell triangulation and watch parents freak out.
more of a problem than a solution. i bet some of you kept your kids on leashes too.
I’ll stick with Google Latitude for this …
@ mom of teen:
The phone won’t tell you what your kid is doing, just where he is. So when he says he is going to a friends house, you can see that he is exactly where he says he is. He’ll just be smoking pot, picking up some STDs, and then moving to stronger drugs like heroin, blow, crank, and ecstasy. So be a parent and get your kid help instead of spying on him. Spying won’t get him to clean up, being a parent will have better results.
I love hearing about parents saying how well this protect and insure the safety of their children. LOL! Companies thrive on “Lazy America”. People want to have all, do all, no all and be all without as little effort as possible. Take time to teach your kids some rules and allow them to find themselves. If you did your job as a parent instead of plopping them in front of a tv with nintendo or sega when they were growing up and taught them right for wrong you wouldn’t be so paranoid.
You’re not gonna stop them from drugs, sex or anything else unless at one point something clicks in their head that says “I shouldn’t do this”. No “I can’t control my kid cause I never taught him a damn thing, GPS system” is gonna stop them from being kids and exploring the world.
If you taught them from when they were young they have the tools to choose right from wrong. No GPS is gonna tell them not to smoke pot or have sex.
Big Brother will succeed in tracking our every move and it will be because we the people are too lazy and too stupid and will practically beg them to do so with these so called “safety enhancements/devices”.
A couple of notes – in addition to the feature itself, the line that is doing the tracking has to have unlimited data if you are going to be checking in through your phones web browser to track people. Also, every time you locate a phone, that phone will use 2 KB of data – or two cents worth if you don’t have unlimited data on the lines being tracked as well.
2 cents isn’t much, but considering that this application is most likely going to be used by overprotective parents and psycho boyfriends/girlfriends and the like, you could easily run up your bill substantially if you’re going to be tracking someone 20 or 30 times a day.
It really won’t help you locate a lost phone either – if you lost you phone in your house, but have no idea where, checking the family map feature will basically only confirm that your phone is somewhere in or near your house.
And for you conspiracy nuts worried about ‘big brother’ – pull your head out of your @ss. This is a consumer application to be used by the account holders. ‘Big Brother’ has been able to track your cell phone signal for years – the family map feature just means that the consumer can now have access to the same technology that the government and corporations do.
You can’t forward a text on the I phone but
They can track ur everymove
Priorities!!!!!!!
Genius
@ mom of teen:
The phone won’t tell you what your kid is doing, just where he is. So when he says he is going to a friends house, you can see that he is exactly where he says he is. He’ll just be smoking pot, picking up some STDs, and then moving to stronger drugs like heroin, blow, crank, and ecstasy. So be a parent and get your kid help instead of spying on him. Spying won’t get him to clean up, being a parent will have better results.
i work for at&t selling phones and seriously this is a great thing. you have no idea how many parents buy their small kids phones. say for instance a child is walking home from school daily…this is something u would want to have just for extra protection incase the worst happens. how about ur a small business with ten lines with us…and u think ur employeee ran off with the company phone…this could help or maybe to make sure they are on their job site. $ow about when u ground ur kid but want to take the night out with ur hunny? perfect way to make sure they dont leave the house…this isnt anything that is government or big brother…just a feature that gives people peace of mind.. iphone has had an app like this for awhile called loopt…check it out. their is also smart limits which can help u block numbers and texts and set the time of day the person can use the phone