Samsung Connect Tag

Samsung announces tracking tag

Samsung Connect Tag

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung is introducing a groundbreaking new device promising to “keep track of loved ones, valuables and all the matters in your life.”

The Samsung Connect Tag is the world’s first consumer device using a special mobile phone network band designed for low power and low data called “Narrowband.”

The little white tag–about the size of a keychain–uses global positioning satellite data along with Wi-Fi positioning data for location tracking. According to Samsung, “It can be attached to a young child’s backpack so his or her whereabouts can be tracked, clipped to a dog’s collar so it won’t go missing, and secured the keys so they are never lost.”

For example, if a user has a tag attached to missing keys, a simple button press on their smartphone will give the location of the keys.

Users can also trigger a function to send out their location to authorized users, so even a young child can let their parents know exactly where they are, according to Samsung.

The 1.6 inch wide device is waterproof, dustproof, and can last for up to seven days on a single charge. Samsung says it will be available to consumers in South Korea before expanding to more countries in the coming months. The price of the Connect Tag has not yet been announced.

The legality of the newly announced tag remains unclear, but it will likely be subject to the same restrictions as cell phone and GPS tracking data. A New York-based security firm selling GPS trackers, BrickHouse Security, said its generally illegal to us a GPS tracking device if you’re not the owner of the tracked object or you’re attempting to track someone without their consent. However, court rulings involving GPS tracking have been mixed.

The development of small GPS trackers could spur the U.S. Supreme Court to answer some previously unanswered questions regarding location tracking, which is not specifically addressed in the Fourth Amendment protecting citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures by the State.

While the Supreme Court has yet to voice its opinion, some state legislatures have taken up the issue of GPS tracking. In California for example, police need a warrant to track you, but not federal authorities. According to the ACLU, Oregon has no such laws, leaving location information “unprotected.”

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