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T-Mobile Shows Users the Names, Pictures, and Exact Locations of Random Children (www.404media.co)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.02-180255/https://www.404media.co/t-mobile-shows-users-the-names-pictures-and-exact-locations-of-random-children/

On Tuesday, some parents lost the ability to track the locations of their children using a T-Mobile tracking device and app and instead were shown the exact locations of random other children around the country, 404 Media has learned.

T-Mobile sells a small GPS tracker for parents called SyncUP, which they can use to track the locations of young children who don’t have cell phones yet. Jenna, a parent who uses SyncUP to keep track of her three-year-old and six-year-old children, logged in Tuesday and instead of seeing if her kids had left school yet, was shown the exact, real-time locations of eight random children around the country, but not the locations of her own kids. 404 Media agreed to use a pseudonym for Jenna to protect the privacy of her kids.

“I’m not comfortable giving my six-year-old a phone, but he takes a school bus and I just want to be able to see where he is in real time,” Jenna said. “I had put a 500 meter boundary around his school, so I get an alert when he’s leaving.”

Jenna sent 404 Media a series of screenshots that show her logged into the app, as well as the locations of children located in other states. In the screenshots, the address-level location of the children are available, as is their name and the last time the location was updated. In many cases, the location updated time said “just now” or “one minute ago.” It is clear the tracked people are children because their profile pictures show images of young kids wearing backpacks, and many of the locations shown are schools around the country.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Why is it automatically gross? What method of locating lost child should parents use instead?

I generally agree with lots of topics regarding privacy but tracking your own children is just one part of being responsible for them. What is suggested way of making sure they are safe other than technology?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

...teaching your kid to be safe. It's that simple. Be with them until they're old enough, and then they're fine on their own. People underestimate how fine kids will be.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

I dunno, I have a sibling I've never met because they were kidnapped before I was born. Teaching a kid to be safe doesn't give them the ability to overpower adults.

I think when they get a little older you obviously need to stop tracking them, but I also don't think it's bad to want to know where your little kids are.

I do think it's bad to use an app that has their full names and pictures, though. That's common sense.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

Humans, in their current form, have survived for ~200k years sans the ability to surveil the location of their children at all times, an activity that has dubious safety benefits.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

I grew up in the '80s. It was absolutely unnecessary then, and a pressing need has not since developed. "Be home by dinner" was perfectly serviceable when I'd head off on my bike to see which friends were available to hang out with. Often, I'd be invited to dinner, and the parents would talk so mine knew where I was, usually followed by an invite for a sleepover since it was by then dark.

Abductions of and assaults on kids are statistically far more likely to happen with a known party. This tracking obsession stunts normal childhood experiences, and I've not seen any study conclude that kids are overall safer from this level of surveillance.

If uncle Bob is molesting you but your parents trust him, this is all theatre. "At least they're safe ... they're at Bob's" my ass. But god forbid you meet up with your friends to build a tree fort outside of an arbitrary radius.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

So tracking someone's location automatically means the person is forbidden to enjoy life? How much cars did you meet in the 80s? Are really an 80s methods and safety standards good enough for todays world?