WHERE'S WALDO? WHY SPECULATE? GOOGLE HIM!

The good people at Google figured they'd do us all a favor and make us real easy to find. They are introducing something called Latitude that will enable people to pinpoint your exact location anywhere on earth through your cell phone. Not to worry, they insist, you can turn Big Brother off if you like. The trouble with that is that many cell phone users won't be aware that the system is on. Google said it built the system with privacy and security concerns from the beginning so people should not be concerned about that puny little man behind the curtain who claims to be the Great and Powerful Oz, or whoever it is they put in charge of tracking your every move. Probably some young guy in India who's professional name is Billy.

What's the problem? Some say this is a great way to keep track of their children's whereabouts. This way people have one less thing to do, like being a parent. If you need a GPS device to keep track of your kids, odds are you're not exactly Mom & Dad of the year. And of course the old argument pops up that if you have nothing to hide you have no worries, which sort of negates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution saying that we have "a right to be secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects." Isn't where we are at any given time our own damned business and none of Google's? And isn't keeping track of when we go to the dry cleaners an unreasonable search?

And who really cares where anybody is every moment? We pretty much have a vague idea of where the people we know are located. We know where they live, where they work, their home, business and cell phone numbers and e-mail address. It's not like we're long-lost twins around here. We're reachable. If somebody doesn't get back to you, maybe there's a reason. Pinpointing exactly from where they're ignoring you won't help.

Like any other technology, this one will be employed just because it's possible, not because f any apparent benefit to mankind. And like a lot of other things, it is being promoted as some sort of security blanket. Is the Google Corporation to be in charge of monitoring our comings and goings? The government wouldn't be allowed to do that, at least not without an ongoing criminal investigation and a few court orders. Why should a giant corporation get away with it? Who put them in charge of us? Maybe Waldo doesn't want to be found.