Keeping them safe or making...

With the advent of modern, more affordable technology, parents tracking their children and teens is becoming ever prevalent. Their every move and in some cases, every action, are being monitored in real time with precision. Take for instance a new system provided by some insurance agencies. AIG and Safeco Insurance agencies are launching and/or piloting new programs to track teens driving habits. One such system labeled "Teensurance" uses GPS and has notifiers to inform the parents via email or text message when their teen driver breaks a predetermined speed limit, reaches a distance from home that's further than approved, or doesn't return home for that 9 o'clock curfew. The car's location can even be listed on the Teensurance website.

"Peace of mind at an anxious time" and "Knowing they're safe means less checking in" are a few marketing taglines found at the Teensurance website. These statements may not be entirely true. Officials have stated that there are now 29,000 sex offenders on MySpace. Criminals are becoming more and more technically savvy. Not only do we now have to monitor our children's internet use, but imagine a sex offender finding a back door allowing him to track your child's every move. As the father of three, that gets the stomach turning -- I think I can feel my hair turning gray as I type.

Another interesting service that begs the question, "am I keeping them safe or making them vulnerable" is Disney Mobile. Overall this sounds like a great service, with functionality to limit minutes and text messages, sending prioritized messages to family members, and controlling calls by time of day, etc. The more questionable feature is Family Locator.

What is Family Locator?
"The Family Locator feature enables you to locate your child's handset using advanced GPS technology. From your phone or online, you can locate your child's Disney Mobile phone and receive a location and a map of the location without calling. "

Again, how secure can this really be? Imagine someone hacking into Disney's GPS tracking system and locating every child that holds a Disney Mobile phone. Not only is my hair turning gray now but I can feel an ulcer forming. Hacking is a serious security concern these days. Banks, businesses, government databases, they're hacked regularly. I can live with identity theft. Can I live with one of my children being attacked because I wanted to make myself feel more secure about where my children are and what they're doing? Absolutely not! Besides, isn't that what we call, yup, you guessed it...BEING A RESPONSIBLE PARENT! If you have to resort to measures such as these, I say you need to look in the mirror and question your ability to be a good parent.

Privacy issues aside, is all this "protection" worth the risk? That's your call to make and not one that should be taken lightly.