Mobile phone tracking opens up potential minefield for employers

A crystal ball would offer the perfect tool for suspicious employers – they could check up on staff who claimed to be late because of a traffic jam or train delay. They could see whether a homeworker was actually out shopping.Internet search engine Google’s latest invention, Latitude, could be just what they’ve been looking for. It enables mobile phones to operate as tracking devices – the phone’s location is plotted on a map available to anyone nominated by the phone user.