Can you track a family member by AT&T?
Perhaps you want to know where an elderly parent is, or want to monitor your children or spouse; you may be wondering if you can track the location of a family member via their AT&T Internet service. Let me bring you up to speed on the following.
Laws Regarding Location Tracking
First of all, you should note that it is unlawful to spy on another person without their permission. In this regard, it is unlawful to follow somebody’s whereabouts without his or her consent. However, laws differ from one region to another and there may be some privilege in cases of the children or parents. Before engaging in any tracking process, it would be more appropriate to familiarize yourself with the laws governing the area.
AT&T FamilyMap® Service
Fortunately, though, AT&T does provide a family-locating internet service in the form of FamilyMap®. With FamilyMap® you can monitor the location of your family members who agreed to share their location. Here's how it works.
1. To avail of the service, family members need to download the FamilyMap® app and opt-in for location tracking. Thus, it can be stated that without consent, family members cannot be traced.
2. The primary account holder creates a group for the family, for instance, “Smith Family” and invites members to join the group. Users invited to the game get a text message and they must respond to it positively to accept the invitation. This constitutes consent.
3. Once members accept, the primary account holder can request the location of the member anytime through the FamilyMap® website or the application. The locations get updated almost simultaneously.
Therefore, it is legal to track your family through FamilyMap® if the family members have downloaded the app and agreed to be tracked. Children under 13 years cannot participate in such promotions without express permission from the parent or legal guardian. The administrator is in charge of permissions and therefore has the power to add or remove individuals from the system whenever they want to.
Limitations of FamilyMap
While useful for basic location monitoring, it's important to note some limitations with AT&T's family tracking service.
- It should be noted that the locations may not refresh in real-time. It can take a few minutes or more for the results to come in. Thus, it is not ideal for use in emergencies.
- Nevertheless, tracking does not function when a device is in low-power mode or has the app shut. Location accuracy can suffer.
- It only provides the geographical coordinates and does not include street names and numbers. You can see areas visited, although not have full details of the activity performed in the area.
- -It does not also specify the mode of transport or whether a person is driving, walking, etc Unknown activities are definite.
Therefore, FamilyMap® helps to determine the general location of relatives but does not offer GPS tracking and a complete timeline of their location. For enhanced monitoring, possible with stricter regimes of accountability, or for severe safety issues, there are more sophisticated means: tracking applications for mobile phones and GPS tracking devices. However, issues relating to legality will persist as they concern consent and the right to privacy laws.
Other AT&T Options
If the person you want to track is not willing or able to install FamilyMap® due to age, lack of a phone, etc., here are a couple of other possibilities with AT&T.
Dial the wireless number and request a one-time location determination with AT&T. As for the location of the account owner, they are often able to give a very approximate location but nothing specific.
Go to AT&T’s phone location website and then input the phone number. If location services are enabled for the device, it returns a map of that particular phone’s last known location. However, this will only prove useful if the user has recently employed location-based applications. It is very inconsistent and the information is not as recent as real-time.
The truth therefore is that while options with AT&T that can be used to track the other person’s location are many, most of these may not be very effective if the other person does not allow account access or sharing of his or her location. For more advanced tracking, it would be necessary to have access to the device itself or the mobile subscription account. And again, there are numerous legal considerations.
In Summary
While there is a social and legal solution such as the use of FamilyMap® by AT&T for tracking family members with their consent, there are still mostly no-go areas for tracking for privacy violation purposes. So remember it is better to apply such practices as prior discussion, mutual understanding of expectations, and trust rather than spying on relatives. Thus, the only time that people should be tracked based on their location is when they have agreed to it other than cases that involve threats to safety or criminal activities. It is crucial to assess the circumstances surrounding your case and refer to laws in your country before tracking someone without their consent.
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