Phone tracker snubs stalkers

Here’s some false hope for stalkers everywhere – a new website called World Tracker lets you track down the location of anyone’s mobile phone just by typing in their number. The bad news? You need their permission to do it.

The service is pretty straightforward. You add the mobile number you’d like to locate and the site texts your nominated phone owner to say that you want to add them to your ‘Buddy List’.

If the person replies in the affirmative you can stalk them to the bitter end, although having permission to do so kind of takes the fun out of it.

At the moment, the greatest level of accuracy is 150m radius of the phone. This is set to improve as networks spread and more handsets are kitted out with GPS, and World Tracker says it doesn’t intend to make pinpoint accuracy available because of the “obvious risk of misuse”.

So, rather than being a gift to binocular-toting sociopaths, it looks ideal for a corporate clientele for locating company mobiles (no more excuses for travelling salesmen skiving down the pub then) and keeping an eye on lone workers.

However if you’ve lost your phone, then you’ll be pleased to hear that you don’t need to download any extra software to use the service – all you need is a mobile phone (any handset on any of the major networks) or a computer hooked up to the internet.

To get started you’ll need to top up your account with credit from the World Tracker site – you can get 4 location hookups for a quid plus VAT. So, a dot-to-dot overview of a person’s daily movements might be costly. The message to diehard stalkers: you’re better off buying a pair of walking boots and a bus pass.