Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 02 July 2008 11:46
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Telstra is using both Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS) and network positioning to track phones, with GPS equipped phones obviously a lot more accurate in positioning than when relying on phones that don’t have GPS.
Telstra says that “full control of privacy” is possible as “customers must accept an invitation to share their location before proceeding.”
This is followed up by allowing consumers to “control whether they wish to be located or not and users can make themselves invisible if they choose,” able to be visible to some people and invisible to others if desired.
There’s no cost to join Whereis Everyone but customers do pay for each location look-up or alert. Telstra says that Casual location look-ups are priced at AUD 50 cents or you can subscribe for AUD $2.95 per month and receive unlimited look-ups. Each location alert received costs 30 cents, with the charges billed to your Telstra mobile account.
The ‘unlimited’ nature is subject to a fair use policy (see
Word doc on Telstra terms and conditions, page 37) which states that the service may be suspended if you make excessive use of the service, and also that if you do an abnormally large numbers of location services on a particular person, Telstra reserves the right to inform that person.
Telstra also notes that
data usage may be generated by use of the Whereis Everyone service and you may be charged for such data usage depending on your plan.
Telstra also notes that
pre-paid Telstra phones cannot be used to obtain a GPS location for a person, clearly they want you to sign up to a post-paid account.
Mr Freddie Jansen Van Nieuwenhuizen, Director, Telstra Product Management, said that: “Using Telstra’s superior technology, WhereIs Everyone provides customers with location information in seconds. Once the service is activated on the handsets of friends and family, an automated alert will send an SMS giving their approximate location on demand or on pre-selected days and times.”
What’s the alternative if you’re not a Telstra customer? Continued on page 3.
