QUESTION: Many cellular telephone companies now provide family...

QUESTION: Many cellular telephone companies now provide family locator services. Family locator services allow the owner of a cellular phone account to keep track of the phone's location, thereby keeping track of the phone's user. For the purposes of this case, keep in mind these significant facts about family locator services: 1. Cell phones can be located using GPS, but they can also be located by cell phone signal and whenever they access the Internet over Wi-Fi. In other words, simply turning off the GPS feature does not stop the locator from working (though it does decrease the precision of the location measurement). 2. A family locator service works only for cell phones that are all on a single family cell phone plan. 3. A locator is anyone who has permission to see the locations of others using the family locator service. The owner of the cellular plan is always a locator, but she can designate other members of the family to also be locators. 4. A locatee is anyone whose cellular phone is being tracked. The account owner decides which members of the family will be locatees. 5. A person can be both a locator and a locatee. For example, the account owner might want her spouse to be able to see where she is. 6. The family locator service can also be set to send text messages based on time and location conditions. For example, if a child leaves school during school hours, a text message can be automatically sent to a parent. 7. The family locator service can also restrict cell phone service based on location and time of day. For example, a phone can be restricted so that it cannot send text messages on school grounds during school hours, or that it cannot be used to make phone calls except to 911 or to a parent's phone. Our central question is: How should this system be used? In particular, in what situations should it be used contrary to a child's wishes or without a child's knowledge? REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Recall the concept of a chilling effect. List some possible chilling effects that this system could have, especially on the behavior of teenage children. That is, what are some things that teenagers might technically be allowed to do, but which they might choose not to do if they think parents are watching? 2. Write an argument either supporting or refuting the following claim: "The most moral way to use this technology is for all members of the family to be both locators and locatees. That is perfectly fair." 3. Most families make all adults' locators and all children locatees. What are some potential chilling effects on the adult members of the family if all family members are both locators and locatees? 4. Considering only the harms of being a locatee, are children more vulnerable than adults? You may want to refer back to your answers to Questions 1 and 3. 5. List some ways that using a family locator service actually decreases the vulnerability of children. Do these benefits outweigh the potential harms? 6. Let us assume that we accept the premise that adult family members (parents, grandparents, adult children) should be locators, and young children should be locatees. At what age should a child no longer be a locatee? Explain your reasoning. In particular, should college students who are still on their parents' cell phone plans be locatees? 7. Should the phones of locatees display an icon or message, so that the users knows they are being tracked? Explain your reasoning. 8. Should it be possible for locatees to turn off the location feature whenever they want? Explain your reasoning.