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Is GPS Big Help Or Big Brother?

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By NICOLA M. WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

TAMPA - These days, your boss can call you on your cell phone on your time off, maybe even over the weekend or while you're on vacation.

What about the idea of your boss being able to track where you are and where you've been?

The city of Tampa is doing just that. Inspectors in its building department now carry cell phones equipped with global positioning system technology so the city can keep tabs on inspectors. Supervisors hope the GPS gizmos will improve efficiency and crack down on slackers.

Employers increasingly are using GPS devices to keep track of workers on the road, especially as the technology gets cheaper and the price of gas rises.

But while backers say the trend leads to cost savings and improved customer service, it also has raised questions about privacy and Orwellian employer tactics.

One Tampa building inspector describes it as being followed by Big Brother.

"It's like, 'Hey, you know, we're watching you,'" said Benjamin Buckley, who has worked for the city for three years and is the union shop steward for the building inspection department.

The GPS technology was installed on about 40 inspectors' cell phones about two weeks ago. The service will cost about $20 to $30 per month for each phone, said John Barrios, manager of the city's construction services division.

Right Place, Right Time

City building inspectors are mostly road warriors who travel from appointment to appointment in city-issued vehicles. Although preventing taxpayer money from going to workers who goof off on the job would be a bonus, it's not the primary reason he wanted the devices installed, Barrios said.

Mostly, the department wants to know which inspectors are where so Barrios can send the right worker to the right place in a last-minute emergency, he said.

"I don't know what you can say to folks who are paranoid. My simple response is that if you're acting appropriately and professionally, it doesn't really matter who's watching," Barrios said. "You have nothing to be concerned about."

That may be so, but it still might have an effect on employees who follow the rules, too, says Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group.

"When employees feel like every move that they make is being tracked, it impacts upon them in ways that I think that are harmful to employee morale," Stephens said. "It's the same as if you felt like you were being constantly watched by a camera."

Other city departments might follow suit if the inspector program proves successful. Darrell Smith, the city's chief of staff, said one of the benefits would be the ability to immediately locate a city worker who gets in trouble out in the field.

Developed in the 1970s by the U.S. military, global positioning systems use satellite signals to transmit positions to a ground-based receiver. When the government opened the technology to civilians in the 1980s, it was still relatively unheard of and, for most people, unaffordable.

As technology expanded, the GPS market took off and trackers are becoming increasingly common, especially in cars, where people use GPS devices to get driving directions. Boaters and hikers also increasingly use the technology.

Cell phone-based GPS technology makes up about 10 percent of the consumer market, a figure that is growing, said Sal Dhanani, co-founder of TeleNav, a GPS company.

Caught On The Golf Course

For many companies that offer on-the-road customer service, the technology makes sense, Dhanani said. "It keeps people on track to make sure they're doing the jobs they're supposed to be doing," he said. "If you're supposed to be at a customer's house at 2 p.m., you're there at 2 p.m."

In Chicago last month, the superintendent of the city's sewer department was suspended from his job when his city-issued GPS device showed he was golfing when he was supposed to be working, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In Indiana last year, six Fort Wayne-Allen county employees lost their jobs after an administrator placed GPS devices in department vehicles to catch health inspectors running personal errands on the job, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.

The Tampa city employees union has so far fielded few complaints about the GPS tracking program but will be meeting with the city's human resources department this week to learn more about how the system will work, said Bernie Menendez, the union vice president.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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