You seem to be pretty spot on with your spidey sense there Carlton. According to the authorities this guy killed himself and staged the whole thing. It didn’t have anything to with GPS tracking or his role as a census worker. He was just trying to end his own life.

-Joe

People use GPS devices every day to go from one location to another, find a lost person, etc. So why are we making it appear as if it is something new or dangerous OR that it had anything to do with someone being murdered doing their job – someone, by the way, who didnt even have such a device?

If you own a GPS device you know how fantastic it is to plug in a location and go right to it versus wondering around trying to find your way with a map? This GPS device takes you right to the doorstep of most places ( homes ) you want to visit. Do you think this is just by chance it can find your exact location? Would you want to give up your GPS and all that convenience cause you are worried someone can zoom in on you?

Anyone, anywhere, can do that by picking up a map, going onto the internet, or in numerous other ways. Go to Google or Bing and map a person. Then do a “birds eye” view. You can look right down at most houses or businesses, zooming in so closely you can see someone standing on a deck. This “pinpointing” is available to anyone owning a computer hooked to the internet.

So if you are worried about privacy, worry about the NET! The government protects are info so closely that noone can get what they have – but it is what your credit card companies and other sources have that you should be worrying about, cause they are selling it to everyone — obviously – as is noted by how easily it can be found on the net.

So if you want to take up a cause — try tightening the privacies laws where “real” personal and identifying information is sold and broadcast everywhere to anyone, versus this imaginary GPS threat by your government. If you do not care that your birth date, old social security number, unpublished phone number, and map location is being broadcast, then you surely shouldn’t be worrying about GPS’s.

Our privacy laws will stop you from finding a person “put away” in a hospital, nursing home, or mental institute but allows all this other illegal selling and broadcasting of your personal info unless you OPT OUT. It is next to impossible to get this stuff off the net, when someone is broadcasting your name, age, birth date, address – and other personal info you want to keep private – and rightfully so, due to identify thief. But a person could be committed or hospitalized and easily lost to you and me by a disreputable relative or POA, and we do nothing to stop this nonsense.

NO ONE should be broadcasting personal info if a person wants to keep it private — like what you are sick from, age, phone numbers, et cetera – but our privacy laws are not protecting us and might even be helping the criminal element ( like that POA or relative trying to keep you from a friend who is in trouble ). Try sending your Rep a message, some even ask for your SS # to do this! Talk about Invasion!!

So let’s worry about real things and forget this nonsense about GPS’s and government. They are just using a technology that has been around a long time.