The purpose of Verizon Wireless new program they just announced – Family Locator – is quite obvious but here is what the service homepage says you’ll get for only $9.99/month:

From your PC or phone, enjoy the comfort of locating family members anytime, anywhere. Family Locator is a simple, secure service that allows you to:

• Receive arrival & departure updates for each family member. A Verizon Wireless exclusive!
• Locate your family members.
• Create scheduled location updates for each family member.

This is fantastic for parents trying to track down their rascal kids’ whereabouts or for locating a family member in a time of emergency… but I have a feeling the “evil” uses of this service will at least equal the effective uses:

• Think your husband or wife is cheating on you? Find out where their mistress/misters lives!
• Are they lying about where they’re going? Catch them red handed!
• Is your teenager sneaking out of the house? GROUNDED PERMANENTLY with PROOF!

It is definitely an interesting service but I’m wondering how you opt-in different phones and how a family member can or cannot turn of access to the service. I can’t wait to see the next episode of CHEATERS sponsored by VZW (joking of course). The URL of the address has the word “chaperone” in it so I’m guessing yuo can tell what the intended purpose is… and of course the picture above makes it pretty obvious.

[Via Verizon]