invasion of privacy or just downright cool?

I have been thinking over the last week of all the advancements in technology, and how the have infiltrated almost all aspects of society. First came there was the invention of the car, and 50 years later came the computer, who would have thought the two would have been combined. Now on almost every new car you buy there is at least one computer on it. GPS has been an advancement in technology that is changing the world we live in. With GPS you can know your position on the earth within centimeters. It helps give you driving directions, it guides the flights you are on, it helps sailors not get lost at sea. But who else knows your location, with the internet sending data to everywhere in the world it is inevitable that the two be combined. Cell phones which almost everyone has now are coming standard with GPS recievers and transmitters that are smaller than the discontinued 5 cent coins. In Japan there is a new interconnectedness between GPS cell phones and the world they live in. If you make yourself available on your cell phone as you are walking through town your phone keeps track of your position and sends it through the internet. As you pass your local pizza shop you might get a text message saying, show this text message in the next 5 minutes for half off anything on the menu. Sure if you like pizza, this is very cool, but it has an Orwelian ring about it.
The possibilities, it seems, are limitless. With everyone having these phones you can make yourself in a friend web much like you would see on Facebook or Myspace. You would know when friends are nearby, in fact you could know their position within centimeters. It takes the fun out of hide and seek, and takes away your privacy, but do the benefits outweigh the loss of privacy? People said the same thing about cell phones, they didnt want people to be able to contact them whenever they wanted, and now there is no sacred places in the world. I have heard cell phones ring in classes, churches, cemetaries, the wilderness, and pretty much every inappropriate place on earth. I believe it is inevitable that this technology will take over our lives, and who knows how far reaching it will be.

Next time a teenager sneaks out their window from their parents, their parents may know exactly where they are. Next time a secret love affair gets made public due to technology and forces the romance to go away. Next time you cannot be alone, think of how things were 10 years ago, 20 years ago even, and think if you want things back the way they were. Personally I like the way the world is going, but I think an ever watchful eye is needed to keep the technology from becoming our life.