1. Why do mobile phone manufacturers (Apple, Google, and BlackBerry) want to track where their customers go?
2. Do you think mobile phone customers should be able to turn tracking off? Should customers be informed when they are being tracked? Why or why not?
3. Do you think mobile phone tracking is a violation of a person’s privacy? Why or why not?

Do you like your smartphone? Living on the grid has its advantages. You can access the Internet, visit your Facebook page, get Twitter feeds, watch video, and listen to music all with the same “communication and media device.” Less well known is that living on the grid means near continuous tracking of your whereabouts, locations, habits, and friends. At first, the Web made it possible for you to search for and find products, and some friends. Now the mobile Web grid tracks you and your friends to sell you products and services. New technologies found on smartphones can identify where you are located within a few yards. And there’s a great deal of money to be made knowing where you are. Performing routine actions using your smartphone makes it possible to locate you through-out the day, to report this information to corporate databases, retain and analyze the information, and then sell it to advertisers. A number of firms have adopted business models based on the ability of smart-phones to report on your whereabouts, whether or not you choose to do so.