Google saves the day and the handbag…

If you thought that Google weren’t looking out for your best interests then I’m afraid to say that you are so very wrong! Google’s Latitude service managed to help the police in the United States find their way straight to a stolen purse in a matter of minutes.

Janina Valiente was standing at the bus station, waiting for a bus as you do, when a couple of rotten thieves jumped past her and grabbed her purse. Thinking that they had gotten away clean with the bag the thieves ran on thinking that they had chalked up a victory – oh how they were so wrong.

Valiente remembered that Google’s Latitude service would still be working on her mobile in her handbag and so she borrowed a random person in the street’s phone to call her sister. The sister was then able to follow the progress of the thieves through the application and was able to inform the police of their location – they were picked up and caught red handed!

If ever there was an argument for technologies benefits then this would surely be it – alright it isn’t really a very good argument but never mind. Maybe it’s just a good argument if you were debating Google’s recent infiltration into the privacy of everyone on the planet. Street view might be annoying to some but at least you can see Liam Gallagher having a pint in Camden…that’s what computers are for after all…

Latitude knows where you are every second of every minute…

Google’s Latitude service allows users to let keep their friends and family abreast of their location in real time. Although that sounds like a bit of a creepy feature it has actually turned out to have saved Janina her handbag and all its contents.

This may sound like a great step in the evolution of technology, where a simply app can now triangulate your position in some kind of secret agent fashion but actually the network providers have been doing it for quite a while.

The networks are constantly tracking mobile phones and keeping records in their little secret vaults – this obviously comes in handy when the police want to find out where a phone is. The only difference, however, between the networks and Google is the latter is free.

The networks are watching you!

According to traceamobile.co.uk networks in Britain have been able to keep their beady little eyes constantly fixated on us since as early as 2003. Today the likes of T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and O2 are able to keep a close eye on both monthly and pay as you go users alike.

But if you want to keep your own eye on you phone in case of emergencies like the one Janina went through herself then you’re better off grabbing a copy of Google’s Latitude – you’ll be able to monitor where the thieves are taking your phone and if you’re lucky the police might be interested enough to go after them…

Big Brother or big bother?

Does all the recent intrusion on your privacy make you feel uneasy or couldn’t you care less if your blurred face appeared over the Internet? Let us know…