A mobile company in Hong Kong has started a new service — SMS alerts about new places where SARS is cropping up. It’ll let users know any buildings — within one mile of their calling area — where SARS has been reported.

I’d never thought about this potential aspect of location-based services, but it queasily makes sense. Once mobile devices are much more location-aware, I can imagine paranoia-chic companies setting up alerts to let you know the relative crime-safety ratios of the neighborhoods you’re entering. It’ll be a like a massive, dynamic version of digital redlining. Yikes.

(Thanks to Boing Boing, via Gizmodo, for this one!)