It seems like ATTWS will offer a service that'll tell you where your friends (or children or spouse or whatever) are ... I haven't seen it announced, but from their "Explanation of Rates and Charges.
"Find Friends service will only locate a compatible mobile device with mMode service that (1) has granted you permission, (2) is turned on, (3) is registered on the AT&T Wireless GSM/GPRS network, and (4) has not activated Be Invisible. Location services only provide the location for the most recent cell site the device has contacted. The distance from cell site to device will vary. Other terms and conditions that apply to Find Friends are available at www.attwireless.com/mMode/friends/terms."
(the /mMode/friends/ pages just redirect to the front page).
update: hmn, they seem to have had it for some months. I can't find a reference to it on their pages though....
Your privacy is safe with us. Safe for us anyway, we can do anything we'd like
Two other interesting thing from that page is that they seem to have changed their return policy from 30 to 15 days and they have this snippet about your privacy when you use GPRS.
Our systems will assign you a unique subscriber ID in addition to your phone number. Third parties will have access to your subscriber ID, zip code and your phone model when you browse their web sites. The way third parties handle your subscriber ID and zip code, your usage information and any information you voluntarily provide is governed by their policies.
"unique subscriber ID" ?! What happened to "per site cookies"? They seem A LOT friendlier. Is the zip code where you are or where your home is? It seems rather pointless (and even less privacy friendly!) if it's not your current location.
Oh well, still at 2-3 cents per kilobyte I'm not expecting to use GPRS much anyway....
