The purpose of this research is to examine the phenomenon of GPS within an ethical framework. The plan of the research will be to set forth the background of the emergence of global positioning system technology and then to discuss how ethical issues arise in connection with it, with a view toward identifying possible lines of conflict and development regarding it.
The advent of global positioning system technology has transformed the possibilities for knowing where one is and what time it is anywhere in the world. At the core of GPS technology is a network of satellites operated by the US Defense Department that are in orbit around the earth. Determining exact latitude and longitude is accomplished by triggering the GPS device to receive signals from four satellites. The receiver, which is a computer, automatically calculates its exact longitude and latitude by determining how long it takes for the signal to arrive from each satellite's known position in space (Pease, 2000). Some GPS receivers not only receive satellite signals but also transmit their own position, which enables those with GPS tracking capability to pinpoint the location of the receiver. Transmission utility has been embedded into automobile locator devices, cellular telephones, and wristwatches. That enables those who are equipped with GPS monitors--for example, auto-service companies, emergency-response entities, fleet managers, or individuals who want to know whereabouts of children or the elderly--are in a position to track where the GPS units and the people using them are at any time (Murray, 2002).
Ethical issues surfaced with respect to GPS relatively early on, as various observers noticed that GPS technology carried with it implications for social and personal controls on one hand, and differential access to the GPS network on the other. One feature of the satellite network, which was built and is maintained by the U.S. government, is that it is freely a...