KDDI's Mi-Look watches your elderly parents, treats them like prisoners (video)

By Joseph Volpe

KDDI's looking out for Japan's elderly, or putting them under house arrest -- it's hard to tell which. Hitting stores this September in the land of human-assistive tech, the Kyocera designed Mi-Look is a simplified GPS-capable, mobile-monitoring system that puts you in control of your Luddite parents. The waterproof device packs a strap-activated "I've fallen and I can't get up" buzzer and comes in an appealing shade of hospital white, all while keeping track of your folk's whereabouts. Seems innocent enough, right? Well, it's not really up to Ma and Pa to opt-out of location tracking -- the phone does it automatically, emailing a list of relatives with coordinates and distance traveled. And for that extra special Lindsay Lohan-lockdown touch, the charging port's sensor will not only count the number of times your rents pass by, it'll also answer calls automagically. Starting to feel a little bad about this? We don't blame you, but keep in mind the compassionate tech's being targeted to patients with memory loss issues. Still, we have a suspicion those with claims of a "stolen childhood" might be using this as revenge. Payback's a cellphone, apparently. Video demonstration after the break.

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