> -----Original Message----- > From: Alberto Monteiro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 3:59 PM > To: Killer Bs Discussion > Subject: Brin: Transparent Society > > > CJ Kucera quoted: > > > >> NEW YORK It sounds like a chapter out of "Spy vs. Spy": > Researchers > >> at Carnegie Mellon University have launched a project > called Camera > >> Watch that lists Internet cameras that monitor public > spaces, letting > >> Web surfers try the role of bored security guard. > > > What I *really* would like now is so simple that I still > don't know why it's not available: a system so that I can > keep track of the _approximate_ location of a cell phone. > Cell Phones are all the time connected to a nearby station, > so this system would enable me, for example, to know how far > my wife has gone to her remote hospital job _without_ having > to call her and distracting her while she's driving. > > Alberto Monteiro
There is a federal mandate to get the E-911 system operational in the US. Essentally, all wireless carriers are required to start issuing phones that have technology to allow tracking within 50 - 100 meters throughout most of the country. This is set to be completed by 2006. I am sure that the wireless companies will provide secondary services to pay for these upgrades. Some of these services will be location searches, locator services, etc. I have been working on a business plan to take advantage of some of these services when they become a reality. For instance, providing automatic traffic alerts to subscribers if there is a traffic slowdown ahead of a subscriber. A second service would be an alert if a phone exceeds a boundary set. Parents could then set boundaries in which their children could not cross without them knowing about it. This will radically change the way people get information - where information is delivered not on request, but upon location. URL's will become localized - where depending on your location, a web server delivers different content to you (if you are using your phone to browse). The phone will be a authenticating device, verifying both identity and location. Spam will take on a whole new dimension, where spammers will do a drive-by splat based on when you traverse into a geographic boundary. In summary, there is no stopping this technology. It will be built into every phone in the near future. Combine these three elements - Locator services for location verification, smart cards for authentication, and built in digital cameras into the phones; it will provide true witness for every accident, event, and crime committed. Combine this with automotive logs new cars have built in (the trip computer), accidents will be recorded as they truly happen, not as people recall (Really, I was not speeding!)... Already Law enforcement is using logs from cars to determine what a car was doing seconds before an accident, from speed, to braking, even data of how a car swerves or slides. My own car can track when it is not travelling the direction the wheels are pointed to, and will automatically take over throttle, braking and torque to each wheel to stablize the car (its kinds freaky when the car takes over and won't allow me to brake or accelerate in this condition). This amounts to greater accountibility with driving. Nerd From Hell http://www.fcc.gov/911/enhanced/ The wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) rules seek to improve the effectiveness and reliability of wireless 911 service by providing 911 dispatchers with additional information on wireless 911 calls. The wireless E911 program is divided into two parts - Phase I and Phase II. Phase I requires carriers, upon appropriate request by a local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), to report the telephone number of a wireless 911 caller and the location of the antenna that received the call. Phase II requires wireless carriers to provide far more precise location information, within 50 to 100 meters in most cases. The deployment of E911 requires the development of new technologies and upgrades to local 911 PSAPs, as well as coordination among public safety agencies, wireless carriers, technology vendors, equipment manufacturers, and local wireline carriers. The FCC established a four-year rollout schedule for Phase II, beginning October 1, 2001 and to be completed by December 31, 2005. To help identify and address factors causing delay in implementing Phase II, the Commission instituted a Phase II technical inquiry under the direction of Dale Hatfield. > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
