The Hill News

That old commercial asking “It's 11pm. Do you know where your kids are?” came to mind recently when I heard news that technology companies are saving location-based data from mobile phones. Most parents want to know where their kids are at all times - whether they are at school, at a friend’s house, at the mall or at a game. However, I think most parents are not comfortable with advertisers and big technology companies knowing that same information. But that’s what happening when Apple and Google gather location-based data from mobile phones.

According to data last year from Mediamark, 35 percent of US kids ages 10 to 11 have cell phones, which is double the amount from 2005. Even 5 percent of 6 to 7 year olds have mobile phones. These are all young children and whether or not it’s appropriate to have cell phones at that age trumps the fact that companies like Google and Apple could be collecting data on their location. 

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