I didn't exactly shut up, I went to lunch. Though I make every effort to read as much as possible, I do occasionally sign off this website and do other things. But, I'll welcome myself back to the thread.
I WAS your kid (the bad one), at exactly his age. My brother ended up being even worse than I ever was and went to prison. If you're a concerned parent, and your kid is doing the kind of stuff you say he is, tracking him ain't gonna do much. If he's doing the stuff I did at that age, I assure you, you don't WANT to know where he is. I'm not gonna pretend I know how to be a parent, but I damn well know how to be a f*cked up kid.
I'm sure parents think they can do things to keep their kids out of trouble--you can't--especially at that age. Tracking him won't do anything--except ROYALLY piss him off if he ever finds out. I'm sure there is nothing harder than watching your offspring screw up over and over, and I'm sorry you have to go through that, I am. It wasn't until much later that I was able to see what I put my folks through (nevermind even the rehab bills!).
As for the legal stuff, it'd be interesting to see what a lawyer would say. For instance, if you were able to see his current location, and knew what he was doing, and that was illegal--would you then be implicated to being an accessory to the crime? I have no idea, but the whole discussion is an interesting one.
BTW, why not just turn his phone off?? Make him get his own phone, start paying his bills, have something for a responsibility.
I really didn't mean for this thread to get so far off track, and I realize it's most likely my fault that it did, so I apologize. In the interest of getting this back on track, I welcome any discussion in PM in regards to the "off topic" stuff.
On Track: Google Latitude will work, but won't record where he's been, I believe that was one of the original requests.