I really didn't consider privacy that big of an issue until I first started researching social networking. Now that my eyes have been opened a bit, I am seeing serious threats to privacy everywhere. Not only that, but violating privacy is apparently a lucrative business. Companies like the UK's World Tracker plan to make a pretty penny by revealing your exact location to any interested party with your phone number.



For just 16 pounds ($28), World Tracker will allow you to view the location of just about any GSM cellphone. Just enter the number you want to track into the service's Google Maps-based interface, and you'll be able to zoom in on the device's location, with accuracy somewhere between 50 and 500 meters.

Thankfully it's not (yet) full-on spying; a text message is sent to the party being tracked, who must then respond in order to enable the service. That's a relief - but then again - this technology is clearly available to anyone, these folks are just charging for it. Currently the service is only available in the UK, but they plan to expand to Germany, Spain, Norway and the US.