Startup turns your cell-phone number into a location fix

December 20, 2011 | Source: Technology Review
Loc-Aid

Loc-Aid can use your phone number to pinpoint your location (credit: Loc-Aid)

Startup company Loc-Aid can use your cell-phone number to figure out exactly where you are right now — if you give the company permission to do so.

“We can locate any one of the more than 350 million devices on the major U.S. and Canadian carriers in real time,” says Rip Gerber, founder and CEO of Loc-Aid, based in San Francisco.

To cut fraud, a person might be prompted to allow such tracking when they use their bank’s mobile website or app, says Gerber.