Reformed Chicks Blabbing

Reformed Chicks Blabbing

Police locate kidnapped girl using GPS in her cell phone

posted by Susan Johnson | 8:49am Saturday January 10, 2009

This sounds like something you’d see on CSI:

A nine-year-old girl, allegedly kidnapped by her grandmother, has been found using a mobile phone signal and Google Street View.
A police officer and a firefighter in Athol, Massachusetts, joined forces after authorities were alerted that Natalie Maltais had been taken.
Officers used GPS in the girl’s mobile phone to find her approximate location.
They fed the co-ordinates into Google Street View, pinpointing a hotel where the child was subsequently found.
[...]
Since 2005, US law says that mobile phone providers must be able to locate 67% of callers within 100 metres and 95% of callers within 300 meters.
This requirement has led to GPS capability in most new mobile phones in the US.

The phone company has to cooperate with the police when there’s a missing person or when a life is in danger and in this case it ended well but I’m concerned about the invasion of privacy aspect of this, there’s the potential for abuse such as a widening of the scope of inquiry. I’m not thrilled that my movements can be monitored by a GPS system in my phone! That’s too much information available to be misused. I wonder if it’s time to switch to a prepaid phone :-)
“He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither.” Benjamin Franklin



Previous Posts

One Final Word
My dear friend Michele slipped into eternity on Wednesday, February 1.   She was a remarkable woman who left a legacy of faith, determination, and love. For three years she courageously battled the ovarian cancer that eventually robbed her of her life.  A few days before she died, one of her docto

posted 8:43:41pm Feb. 10, 2012 | read full post »

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
My husband told me that there are rumors that I've died. I'm happy to report that I'm still very much alive. My cancer has gone to stage four but we are controlling it with chemo, the cancer numbers are currently in the normal range. I've stopped blogging to concentrate on my daughters and writing a

posted 7:07:55pm Aug. 23, 2010 | read full post »

An update and a prayer request
Several people have asked about Michele's condition, and have promised to pray for her. On her behalf, I thank you for that. I spoke with her a little while ago, and she asked that I come here and tell you what's going on, and to ask you to pray for her. She isn't able to post here herself right

posted 4:55:36pm Apr. 06, 2010 | read full post »

Rest in peace, Internet Monk.
A man known in the cyber world as The Internet Monk, has died. Michael Spencer lost his battle with cancer tonight. My prayers go out for his family and for all those who loved and will miss him. :(

posted 11:52:00pm Apr. 05, 2010 | read full post »

The peace that passes all understanding, pt. 1
I'm coming out of my normal hiding place to make a few comments. The internet is a strange place. It is often a wonderful place, a helpful place, a unifying place. But it is also alienating, cold, and is the perfect medium in which to depersonalize others. Through it, I have seen people reach out

posted 4:39:08pm Mar. 25, 2010 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments read comments(5)
post a comment
me

posted January 10, 2009 at 11:17 am


This is really a very effective and usefull tool to locate a missing person. Phone Companies are not going to provide information to just anyone, there are proper procedures to protect ones privacy,However; in an event like this it becomes very useful and may save anothers life. Think about this, if it was someone you loved, mother, sister, brother or child would you want the proper authorities to utilize all the resources possible to finr that person before it was too late??? I know I would !!!!!



report abuse
 

ZZ

posted January 10, 2009 at 11:21 am


Kidnapped by her grandmother? How does THAT work? The guardians foster parents?)allowed her access to the girl. This doesn’t sound like a real “kidnapping”, but maybe a grandmother trying to take the girl out of an abusive situation, or maybe a custody dispute that she got involved in. Still illegal, of course, but not the sinister thing implied at first.
What irritates me is all the Amber Alerts that go out when “Weekend Dad” is 15 minutes late bringing the kids home. They are so numerous that they make weather radios useless for their original purpose.



report abuse
 

doc

posted January 10, 2009 at 4:06 pm


Yeah, the phone companies have procedures in place… Just like when they gave info the Georgie and company w/o warrants or any kind of court approval. Gotta love those phone company privacy procedures.



report abuse
 

Moonshadow

posted January 10, 2009 at 9:02 pm


I wonder if it’s time to switch to a prepaid phone :-)
They can track that stuff too.



report abuse
 

Charles Cosimano

posted January 10, 2009 at 9:12 pm


Don’t worry. It won’t be long before a pocket jammer is available that will block the cell phone gps signal unless it is actually in a call. And I would think a mylar bag would be sufficient to block the signal but that needs to be tested. But in any event, prepaid is obviously the way to go because then you can simply activate it with a false name and address and use the cards to reload it.



report abuse
 

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.

Share this story


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Help

Media Kit

Subscribe

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.