Keeping Track

Francine and Jasper Wheelwright spent all summer helping their son, Leonard, get ready for his fall semester as a freshman in college. Leonard was going out of state to an excellent school halfway across the country. They bought him a used but reliable car, reserved a room in the dormitories, went with him to campus for his visitation, and helped him deal with countless details for his new life.

There were only a few remaining matters to take care of. After much research and many talks to sale representatives, they were looking at some of the following products and services. Teen Arrive Alive is a service that would use Nextel wireless phones and a tracking service from uLocate Communications, Inc. to keep them informed of Leonard’s whereabouts at all times. A competitive product, Wherifone, is a locator phone that makes use of the Global Positioning System. To make sure that he was driving safely, they considered buying a CarChip, which would be installed in his car to monitor speed, distance, and driving habits. They were also concerned about his diet, and so were seriously considering Mealpay.com, which may have started out as a way for parents to prepay school lunches, but recently added the benefit of allowing parents to monitor what type of food is being purchased. For off-campus purchases, they were looking into MobileLime, a cell phone that lets kids make credit card purchases from participating fast-food chains and grocery stores, and lets parents track these purchases. Although not then available in the United States, “alerts,” was a service from Langtree SkillsCenter Ltd., in Britain, which promised to send parents regular reports on their kids’ grades, progress reports, and attendance at school. The Wheelwrights added themselves to the mailing list to be informed when this service came to the United States.

At one point, while his parents were taking a break from their research, Leonard walked into the study and saw all the brochures lying around. He looked at them, at first casually, and then with increasing anger and alarm. Snatching up a handful of ads, he confronted his parents.

“What are you doing? I am eighteen years old. You can’t spy on me every minute of my life. I won’t let you. It’s my life, and I don’t want you breathing down my neck 24-7.”

“We’re not spying on you, honey,” Francine assured him, “We just want to be sure you are safe.”

Question: Is it morally right for the Wheelwrights to use these technologies to keep track of Leonard?

--The "Keeping Track" case is from the 2008 Regional Ethics Bowl.