Somedays, in my most self-pitying mood, I wonder why the world hasn't moved faster to embracing mobile technology, and GPS cellphones and the like. Surely I understand the Big Brother fears, surely I see the reticence from carriers from moving too quickly into uncharted territory.

And then, the worst fears realized, as Mark Frauenfelder and the RFID in Japan blog discovered the news -- a girl abducted and killed in Japan, while her family received tormenting messages from the captors via her tracking GPS cellphone.

While the GPS system didn't necessarily contribute to the crime -- she was seemingly stalked and abducted without benefits of GPS tracking (unlike this case a few months ago) -- the technology, in the end, couldn't save her either. As Mark makes the case in his links, tracking is not a substitute for good parenting and trust. At the end of the day, as so much new technology is embraced first for evil (or illegal) instead of good (witness the "pager = drug dealer" sentiment of the 80s), it certainly gives me pause to think of any innovations I can create, and potential misuse.