Press release: New mobile phone service in the UK keeps track of children

Childlocate is a new mobile phone service launched by MobileLocate in partnership with Trackwell Software. For a monthly subscription, parents can locate their children's whereabouts by accessing a web page that shows the child's location on a map, or by using a mobile phone which can indicate the area by text. According to MobileLocate, the ChildLocate service works best in urban areas, where it is accurate from 50 to 500 meters, but less so in rural areas.

[Editor's note: Wired today features a story on a more direct - and scary - method of doing the same thing, developed in Mexico.]

The service is interesting - and rather tempting to the eyes of retail marketers - however the range of accuracy might be a big limitation to the service's success. 500 meters in urban areas represents a wide range of streets, shops, pubs, etc. It does make a big difference knowing that your children are wandering about a bookshop or inside a betting shop.

The privacy issue is pretty important as well, however we presume parents will use the service to track only their minor children, and not, for instance, their spouses.