Satelite TV: I though about that one for a bit, and the more I thought about that, the less sense it makes. Satelite tv doesn’t have GPS in it. In fact, I doubt it’s a very mobile system at all. The dish is tied to the roof of your house, AND you need a phone line for it to communicate. They could just as easily CALL DISH, and say “this person, what’s their address?”

Ok this I know is a stretch, but this is a experiment my Dad did. During the summer my parents head for cooler country to get out of the desert heat of Arizona. There’s a camp ground they go to on the border of Arizona an New Mexico, it stradles the border. Once he is more than 50 yards into New Mexico he no longer has local tv stations ( Phoenix area ) on his reciever.

An no you don’t have to have a phone line to operate it. The phone line is just to update the reciever (though it doesn’t need the phoneline to update). My Dad an Mom use their satelite when they travel in the motorhome. Many RV’s come with satelite allready on them, an don’t need a phone line.

First, I think it has been establinshed now that Satellite TV is portable. My parents take theirs with them from Alabama to Colorado every summer in their RV. They don’t need a different board, code or anything. They just pack up their reciever and have a second dish that they post on a stand at their campsite.

Second, most new cell phones have GPS chips as required by law for 911 systems. Most providers do not give their users access to the info, but some are now selling location services so your friends can feel assured that you are still in the next room (or so your parents can track you, whatever). The police can track the phone with the proper paperwork, but who knows what that is these days…. There are also services you can sign up for that allow you to do this. I read an article recently that describes how to use a pre-paid cell phone as a lo-jack system (or to track your teenagers in your car).

Finally, GM liscenses OnStar to anyone who will buy it. It is true that few people outside of GM customers want it (maybe few people including GM customers). Mercedes has a system, Lexus has a system, Acura has a system. I think BMW also is offering a similar service. Outside of GM it is typically limited to luxury or near luxery name plates because they’re the only ones with customers that don’t mind the monthy fees.

Regardless of all that drivel. The fact is that by the time the government supenas Google, you are likely to be somewhere else. And based on Google’s recent reaction to data requests I would bet that they would put up quite a fight before giving up live tracking of their customers. Having a stock price over $400/share allows them to afford good lawyers.

And I think there was a good comment in there someplace: Google isn’t going to force anyone to use the system. If you have extreme privacy issues (or forgot to wear tin foil on your head today), you don’t have to log into a WiFi spot. You can’t be tracked just by walking through a WiFi hotspot (yet).

For the most part the hype about this issue is alarmist non-sense and/or the press on a slow news day (Don’t they have a video of a bear in a tree being drugged by dart and falling onto a trampalene that they can show?). I’m not saying that we don’t need to keep an eye on individual rights these days. We should never stop thinking about the balance between privacy and access. But come on. You’re really gonna deny free internet access to millions of people because the government may be able to track down a drug dealer or a baby stealer using the system?