INTRODUCING: THE $25 STARBUCKS GIFT CARD CHALLENGE
Once a month we present 3 technologies with potential legal implications.
What’s YOUR answer?
One $25 Starbucks gift card card awarded per challenge based on what we feel is the most judicious response to any one of the three discussed technologies. Click on “Leave a reply” to post your answer(s). Deadline to be eligible for the Starbucks gift card is January 31, 2014.
This month’s focus: Three 2014 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) technologies unveiled.
1. MobileHelp has launched the Cellular DUO, a personal medical alert monitoring system for seniors, providing automatic fall detection. The DUO operates on AT&T’s cellular network and will also work with MobileHelp’s recently unveiled MobileHelp Connect online portal, enabling patients, their families and caregivers to track patient activity levels, medication adherence, and trends over time. Some selling features include the following:
- “Mobile device works inside and outside the home via Cellular/GPS Tracking
- US Based 24 x 7 Emergency Monitoring Service
- We know who you are, where you are, and your medical background.”
What possible legal issues might surface as a result of this MobileHelp technology?
2. Many children may soon have a new best friend and his name is FiLIP. Filip Technologies has introduced the FiLIP Smartwatch, intended to keep tabs on kids on the loose. The free FiLIP app is installed on a caregiver’s Android or iOS device and then linked to FiLIP itself. FiLIP allows one to monitor locations and set “safe zones,” namely, the distance FiLIP may travel before the linked phone receives an alert. One issue is that FiLIP appears to be easily removable by a child or someone who recognizes it as a tracking device… so it is not foolproof. Read more about FiLIP here.
Do you see any legal issues that might result from FiLIP?
3. Car manufacturers and internet-service companies are set to create even more distracted drivers on the road with the help of “built-in 4G broadband that could call up websites on the central dashboard screen. It also would act as a wi-fi hot spot that could connect to up to seven phones, tablets or other devices.” More details available here.
As with smartphone use, there are legal concerns here. Are there any novel ones? What is your answer?