Locaid Uses A Person's Phone GPS To Determine Their Location: Website Takes Location Services Used By Google, Facebook, And Twitter To Another Level
Your cellphone is becoming smarter everyday, but could it help parents find their lost children? It certainly could, and thanks to a website, this technology is becoming available to more and more people.
The product is available from the company Locaid. On the site, you can type in anyone's cellphone number and get their precise location instantly.
It works by using your phone's GPS signal and the position of cellular towers. It works better in urban areas with more towers, than rural areas with less towers.
But, what if someone doesn't want their location known? Everyone gets a text message asking to agree to share their location. They can opt-in or opt-out to the service.
If a user opts-in to Locaid's services, they're prone to searches by businesses and marketers that could be trying to locate new customers.
Most location tracking apps are used for fun, like Banjo and Google's Lattitude which helps users find out where their friends are.
But others can be used for criminal activity. If a hacker found a way to get past Locaid's security features, the hacker could spy on whomever he wished.
Locaid has a 15-minute feature that times out after you locate someone successfully, preventing you from tracking them all day.
Locaid is a little different from the location services built into Facebook and Twitter though. Cybersecurity expert Jeanine Swatton advises people to turn these off.
Locaid is best used when you don't know where someone is and need to find them.
Thanks to technology and cell phone companies respecting customer privacy, location services still have to be agreed to by users. If someone doesn't want to be tracked, they simply turn off the GPS feature on their phone.
As Locaid continues improvements to its product, smartphones are transforming into powerful handheld computers that allow remarkable capabilities. Locaid hopes to help parents find their missing children or just help friends find each other.