Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Satellite locators track youngsters

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 12:59:54 -0500

Satellite locators track youngsters
Source: Copley News Service
Publication date: 2002-12-24

A string of high-profile kidnappings this year has spurred some anxious
parents to keep tabs on their children the same way cars and trucks are
tracked: by satellite.

But will satellite locators give parents much-needed peace of mind, as
makers of the devices and advocates say, or will they only fuel parental
paranoia, as critics contend?

Those questions are at the center of an emerging debate about this new line
of child-safety devices.

The idea behind the devices is simple enough. Strap a wristwatch on your
child, clip on a pager or toss a small device in a coat pocket, then check on
your child’s whereabouts any time, by phone or via the Internet.

Earlier this year, Digital Angel Corp. came out with one such device, a
$399 personal safety and location system that is worn like a pager. It
requires a service contract that starts at $29.95 a month.

This fall, Wherify Wireless Inc. introduced a $399 personal locator that looks
like a watch. Its service plans start at $24.95 a month.

Next year, a start-up called Peace of Mind at Light Speed Inc. plans to sell
a $100 pocket-sized device that can fit in a backpack. Service plans are
expected to run $5 a month.

These new child-locator devices rely on cell-phone technology and the U.S.
Global Positioning Systems’ two dozen satellites orbiting the Earth to
pinpoint a child’s location. GPS, which was once available only to the
military, is generally accurate to within several yards.

Today, operators of commercial vehicles use it to track their fleets.
Motorists install GPS devices on their personal vehicles. Hikers and other
outdoor-sports enthusiasts are beginning to carry GPS devices to keep
track of their locations. Parolees are wearing GPS devices so that
corrections officers can monitor their comings and goings.

Increasingly, cell phones are being equipped with GPS technology.

It follows, then, that the next step in satellite technology is to use it to keep
track of our most precious assets - our children.

Timothy Neher, founder and president of Wherify Wireless, came up with his
idea for a watchlike locator device five years ago after trying to keep an eye
on his young niece and nephew during a visit to a zoo in Honolulu.

At one point, Neher said, he looked down and they were gone.

“I felt that panicked feeling that every parent feels,” Neher said.

Advancements in technology are helping to fuel the development of GPS
devices for children.

Early versions were the size of microwave ovens and cost thousands of
dollars. The GPS technology in Wherify’s watch is on a microchip the size
of a postage stamp.

Prices have dropped, too, but supporters and critics alike say prices haven’t
fallen enough to make GPS locator devices affordable for the average family.

Still, just as the prices of DVD players, computers and other high-tech
devices have dropped dramatically over the last few years, the cost of GPS
devices for children is likely to come down, too.

Neher said he hopes to someday be able to give away Wherify’s watches,
or sell them for a nominal price and make money from the service plans.

The price tag hasn’t deterred some parents from getting GPS devices for
their children. Neher said Wherify has sold “thousands” of its watches and
has a backlog of orders.

Digital Angel spokesman Matthew Cossolotto said the company has sold “a
few hundred” of its personal locators and has a contract to sell 1,000 to a
Mexican distributor.

Sales have risen in the wake of a spate of child abductions this year,
including those of Danielle van Dam in California, Elizabeth Smart in Utah,
Samantha Runnion in California and Cassandra Williamson in Missouri.

Research shows that three out of four abducted children who are killed die
within the first three hours of being kidnapped.

With Digital Angel’s locator or Wherify’s watch, a parent can find a child’s
location within minutes by placing a call to operators at Wherify or Digital
Angel. If a computer is handy, a parent can log on to a Web site to call up a
map showing the child’s location.

Wherify’s watch can be locked onto a child’s wrist. It automatically calls for
help if someone tries to remove or tamper with it.

“The child abductions really seemed to raise parents’ awareness
nationwide,” said Thomas Franks of the Safety and Security Center, which
sells Wherify watches on the Internet. “I think the whole bar got raised, not
just here in San Diego, but everywhere.”

Even so, executives at Wherify and Digital Angel are quick to point out that
their devices were in the works for years. They said they do not want to be
seen as capitalizing on the kidnappings.

NO GUARANTEES

It is too soon to tell whether the devices will revolutionize the way parents
watch their children. Experts give mixed opinions on whether parents should
use them.

Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was abducted and
murdered by a felon on parole in 1993, wholeheartedly endorses Wherify’s
watch.

The KlaasKids Foundation for Children, a nonprofit organization Klaas
formed to provide national parental awareness and child-safety information,
has a link on its Web site to Wherify’s site.

“If Polly had been wearing a Wherify GPS locator, she’d be alive today,”
Klaas said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Klaas said the only drawback he sees is the price. “It’s relatively expensive,”
he said.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a nonprofit
organization that assists in finding missing children, takes a more cautious
approach to the GPS devices.

“We certainly approve of any kind of device that will help reduce the risk of a
child becoming lost or abducted,” said Ben Ermini, director of the center’s
Missing Children’s Division. “We don’t however, endorse any of these
particular devices.”

Ermini also offered an admonition. “Parents should not view these devices
as a guarantee that their children will be kept safe or will avoid an
abduction,” he said.

Debra Holtzman, a child-safety advocate and author of the book “The
Panic-Proof Parent: Creating a Safe Lifestyle for Your Family,” is equally
cautious about child-locator devices.

Holtzman said that as an additional layer of protection for keeping
youngsters safe, the locators can be “extraordinary” devices to find missing
children and provide peace of mind for parents.

At the same time, “I do believe these types of devices can give parents a
false sense of security. Parents need to realize that no safety device is
foolproof and all safety devices have their limitations.”

She said she doesn’t want to see the locator devices used “as a license for
parents to be more lax in their parental supervision.”

In other words, a parent may mistakenly think it is OK to just look out the
kitchen window every now and then when the children play outdoors while
wearing their locators, Holtzman said.

Others, such as Frank Furedi, author of “Paranoid Parenting,” are critical of
using GPS devices to track children.

“It makes parents even more obsessive about their children’s security than
they were beforehand,” said Furedi, a sociologist at the University of Kent in
England. “Instead of reassuring parents, it will only make them more
insecure.”

Furedi’s research on Web cameras in day-care centers found that parents
spent inordinate amounts of time watching their children over the Internet, to
the point that it was “disruptive.”

‘MORE SENSITIVE’

Considering the media attention to child abductions this year, it is no
wonder parents are anxious.

“We are far more sensitive to each and every one of these incidents than
ever before,” Furedi said.

Kidnappings by strangers actually are on the decline, according to statistics
from the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.

It is far more likely that a child will die in a car accident than at the hands of
kidnapper, Furedi said.

“Children are living healthier, safer lives than ever before, yet parents are, in
general, more paranoid,” he said.

What does he think parents should be doing? “Chilling out a little.”

Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.

Publication date: 2002-12-24

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=35414421&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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