When Harry
An app or even a microchip to keep track of another person’s movements opens up all kinds of pitfalls says Jane Bradley
We live in a world where we can do almost nothing without being watched.
Our streets are lined with CCTV cameras – more than 200 in Edinburgh alone – and social media tracks our every move.
Considering a trip away or browsing a clothing website in your lunchbreak? If you are logged into Facebook while you peruse these sites in an entirely separate browser, they will still haunt you for weeks to come every time you open your news feed.
There is almost nothing we can do about it. In today’s society, everyone – from friends you have not seen for a decade, to companies you once bought something from – knows your business, holds your data and monitors your every move.
Yet some of us are not content with this level of personal invasion – we actually volunteer for more.
Increasingly, I have noticed that a lot of my friends use what is known as the “stalker app” on their iphones. A little map tells them where people who have agreed to be signed up to the app – their partner, parent or child – are located at any given time.
In short, they are stalking them through the GPS on their phones.
Keen users insist that they use them not to keep track of their loved one in a sinister way, but to help plan things more precisely, such as the stalker noting when the stalkee has left work so they know when to start making dinner. Or so they can spot if their partner’s bus is stuck in a traffic jam on the way home.
But, I ask, what happens if they want to surprise each other? Stop off on the way home to buy their partner a surprise birthday present? Or even drop into the pub for a sneaky pint to round off the day? Any hint of mystery has been stamped out.
But those who use it insist that it isn’t a problem.
“You can switch it off,” one friend explained. “It goes blank, just like if you’re in a tunnel and out of signal.”