Ball State

» GPS tracking

By China at 9:52 PM

A few months ago my dad and I were talking about GPS tracking devices. While we were picking out cars we had to decide what features we wanted. Of course he wanted my car and my 17 year old sisters car to be equipped with a GPS tracking device so that he could know where we were, but we were against it. He did seem to have a good argument. What if we were to break down? (Of course we had a better argument. We would just call you dad) ha. What if your car was stolen? Again we were prepared with an answer: then we would get a new one. Duh dad. We argued that is considered stalking (obviously not a very good argument), but in the end, I'm glad that we lost and ended up getting it. Having the GPS system makes me feel a lot safer driving to school, since it's far from home. Also I read this story once in the news paper about someone who was car jacked and the GPS system saved her life as well as her kids.

I was watching t.v. the other day and I saw a show about women (or men in some cases) who install GPS tracking devices in their significant others car to try to catch them in a lie about where they have been and see if they are cheating. I also found out that the police need a warrant for GPS tracking devices, whereas private citizens can use them with no restrictions. This seems to me to be off a little. If the police using them is a invasion of privacy, how come regular citizens using them on each other isn't?

In the case of fleet tracking, companies for delivery or like a taxi service can put tracking devices in their cars to know what is happening with each one. It still seems weird to me though that all of these companies can "stalk" their employees and watch their every move and a cheating husband can be caught by their wives, but a police officer is not allowed to use a GPS fleet tracking device that could potentially save a life.

I also heard that there was a way to block the GPS system. If you are in a car with a tracking device and you do not want to be tracked then you could use "radio jamming" (for all of you cheating spouses out there).