GPS tracking devices have a multitude of uses, most of them being mostly beneficial. However, GPS devices sometimes involve privacy concerns that can sometimes lead to controversy.

Fleet vehicles and GPS tracking devices

You will see that there are many companies, both large and small, that use GPS tracking devices to track the location of their vehicles. Most trucking companies have the ability to tell you where all of your vehicles are at any given time. Similarly, taxi companies and repair companies have the ability to monitor the location of their trucks so that they can dispatch them more efficiently.

However, there are people who believe that this gives companies that choose to use GPS tracking devices more information than necessary about their drivers. For example, trucking companies have the ability to know how long a trucker has spent on the road, when and for what period of time he stops to sleep or eat, and whether he has taken unscheduled side trips.

The dispatchers of these companies may have access to personal information that is not their concern, such as a driver who eats lunch every day in the same place and is not his residence. Some people feel that this constitutes an invasion of personal privacy.

Teens and GPS tracking devices

There are some parents who use GPS tracking devices to know the location of their teenage children. They can download GPS tracking software technology to their teens’ cell phones, or they can place a GPS tracking device somewhere in their car. Adolescents may or may not be aware that their parents are monitoring them.

There are likely to be quite a few teens who believe this is an invasion of their privacy.

GPS monitoring and surveillance devices

Does the thought cross your mind if your spouse is having an affair? Are you curious to know what your brother-in-law is doing? If you put a hidden GPS tracking device in your vehicle, you will at least know where they are going in your car. You may have to come to your own conclusions about what you are really doing there.

There are many people who would agree that this would be an invasion of privacy and many would be offended if they knew or suspected that you are tracking them. Things get a bit more complicated when the police use GPS tracking devices.

The police have used GPS tracking devices to successfully solve crimes. An example of the conflict between the service of justice and the invasion of privacy; they say police placed a GPS tracking device in the car of a person they suspect of being a murderer. They successfully track down the killer while unknowingly leading them to the victims’ grave. Is this an invasion of privacy? Should law enforcement officials be allowed to use GPS tracking devices in this way?

If, for example, the police need to obtain a search warrant from a judge to use a GPS tracking device, should a private citizen be able to use this technology without a warrant? Should the average citizen be allowed to use GPS tracking device technology? Sometimes the right to privacy and the right to information are in conflict, this is one of those times.

All technology has moral and ethical implications that we, as individuals and society as a whole, have to grapple with. The right to privacy is the ethical dilemma we are forced to face when using GPS tracking device technology.