SPRINGFIELD -- You've probably heard "Big Brother is watching you,” or “Your mother is watching you." Now that line is becoming truer than ever. A new technology can track every move of your kids and even your employees.
It seems none of us go anywhere without our trusty cell phone. And many of us have Internet access whenever we want it.
As it turns out, those two things are all it takes for parents to see exactly where their kids are -- and all that bosses need to watch their employees.
From the highways to the hallways, most of us are easy to locate with a quick phone call. Not answering may not be enough to ignore the person who is calling.
"Just click locate and it'll locate your cell phones,” said Jeremy Smart of Alltel.
The cell phones just have to be turned on.
"A click on a map shows me three different teams where they are at this moment,” said David Climer of Wickman Gardens.
Climer checks up on his employees (“They know they're being watched,” he said.), how long they've been at the work site, what time they arrived there and even how long it took them to get there, and whether they made any non-business stops along the way.
It’s real time tracking with the click of a mouse.
"The users won't know they're being tracked."
But they know they can be tracked. And it's not just employers watching.
"If you want to make sure your kid is at school at 12, every day at 12, you can have it send you an e-mail to make sure your kid is at school,” said Smart.
Some parents also plan to sign up for a program called "Family Finder."
"I just feel like it's my right at 15 years old to invade their privacy. I think more parents should keep track of where they are and what they're doing and who they're running with,” said one mother.
Her 15-year old doesn’t like it.
"It feels like I don't have my personal space with her knowing where I was all the time."
KY3 News decided to try the program. A reporter went to the mall. Photojournalist Tim Leimkuhler, back at KY3 newsroom, followed the reporter on the computer screen.
"It does triangulation with the tower, just the position you are from the towers. If that doesn't work then it'll go GPS,” said Smart.
What's more, Climer says the business tracking system is cutting costs.
"I'm confident it will save us money," he said. "It just helps the bottom line if everybody is doing their job."
It keeps employees honest as they clock in and out -- and kids more honest, too.
"When they were younger, they'd say I'm going to be at such and such place; I'd drive by and they wouldn't be there, so you worry about them,” said mom.
"I don't want to be known where I'm going all the time,” said her daughter.
Employers can install the system for between $12.50 and $30 a month, depending on how high tech they want it to be. Family Finder is $10 a month; both programs are through Alltel.