Rumors are bouncing around the net about Google becoming the world's largest ISP. Can you imagine a company offering Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? If anyone can do it, Google can.
Speculators also speculate that google has technology capable of targeting advertising to a user's precise location - a creepy prospect that I can easily imagine may spark fears similar to those that led to Google Web Accellerator's cancellation.
I've been told that all newer phones incorporate some sort of GPS capability. That means the cops can find your phone, which probably means they can find you. Even if you don't have a GPS, if your phone is on the phone company can track your phone from cell to cell as you travel. Just about _any_ wireless network has to be able to keep track of which device is where, so Google wouldn't be doing anything special.
Now you have another reason why I've held on to my 8-year-old phone (scroll down to Number 4 at http://www.mobilemagazine.com/archives/2005/03/the_top_100_gad_1.html) for all these years. It has no GPS, it doesn't take pictures, I don't use it to get to the Web and I've never sent a text message from it. I just use it to make phone calls. Imagine that.
Sally the Lawyer tells me that "soon" (whatever that means) phone providers such as Verizon and Sprint will require you to have GPS-capable phones in order to use their networks. When that day comes, I see a $30 pay-as-you-go cell phone in my future.