FCC: All U.S. Cell Phones Should Be GPS Beginning In 2019
It seems 911 will soon no longer be a joke in your, or anyone else's town.
If you're paranoid about the ability of authorities to find you using your cell phone, you might want to sit down: The FCC will require that cell phone service providers and Voice over the Internet Protocol providers ensure their products meet stricter standards for location accuracy that currently apply to phones with GPS capability. The FCC intends for these standards to be implemented by a date to be determined beginning after 2019. Providers will be able choose either a handset-based system (imbedded GPS type chip), a network-based system, or a hybrid of the two.
Devices that are not GPS-enabled must be tracked via triangulation with local cellular towers, a time consuming process that can only give an approximate location and can dangerously delay critical assistance. The new regulation will allow almost universal pinpoint location of 911 callers by emergency responders. No date was given for when non-GPS enabled devices must be discontinued, but given FCC estimates that by 2018, 75 percent of all mobile devices will be GPS capable, it is likely that the assumption is the sunsetting of obsolete devices will occur naturally as consumers chuck outdated gadgets for shiny new ones.
There may be interesting legal aspects to the new rule. In addition to increased safety for accident or crime victims, the regulation will affect all mobile phones, including pre-paid phones that don't require users to create accounts. This will make it possible for Law Enforcement agencies to locate people via mobile device regardless of service provider or phone model, and finally bring reality into full CSI/NCIS-compliance.
NOTE: Originally, this post contained two inaccuracies: that the new regulations would begin by 2018, and that phones would be required to contain an embedded GPS chip. The post was corrected based on additional data provided to us by the FCC.
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Sounds kinda scary, but I don't think I will have a problem with it. I'm not too concerned with people knowing where I am as an invasion of my privacy, but it would be nice to know that if I am lost people will be able to find me easier.
Keep dreaming , Politics = CANCER of the WORLD !
Keep dreaming , Politics = CANCER of the WORLD !
Politics can be changed, believe it or not, it actually works here in the west.
1984...
So crooks will now just turn off their phones while commiting crimes, and honest people will get their private lives hacked into and stolen.
I forgot to mention that im lucky im not living in the USA..
Alot of people hate USA since the last few months , its because their Goverment ...
I just hope people do stand together and do something about it like the Arab spring ... !
I know there still good people, TV killing us all ...
and this step about the Cell phones = Goverment Interest !
Look at the economy ... mmmm realy sad what happened to the biggest country in the world ..
Why would the government need to always track us... (for safety reason? 911 seems like BS to me) How is that serving the people? Sure it could help some people but it will most likely create problems even more problems. The world we live in today :-/
Another example of how horrible the US government has gotten. The government has no business telling private businesses what features and devices to integrate into their products. When do these stupid regulations stop!
vote for Ron Paul
Nothing wrong with that. I hope it will be for all portable electronics since it can aid finding stolen devices too. How many phones, xpads, netbooks, notebooks etc. get stolen and are never recovered? Also it would make 911 calls more efficient, instead of "where are you now, what is the address etc.".
I don't understand how a free market translates into so much government regulation and interference?!
Are we just acclimated to this type of thing and expect it? This is not freedom. This is corporatism.
Nothing wrong with that. I hope it will be for all portable electronics since it can aid finding stolen devices too. How many phones, xpads, netbooks, notebooks etc. get stolen and are never recovered? Also it would make 911 calls more efficient, instead of "where are you now, what is the address etc.".
Why should these companies be forced by the government to make changes like this? Perhaps the government should just make these devices if they want to regulate and control specifics like this. Oh wait, they can't.
In fact, the FCC really has no business doing any of this. They're way beyond the scope of what they were created to do.
Stop the planet I don't want to live here anymore. I read A Brave New World (Huxley), but I never thought I would be alive to see it come true... Sad days ahead unless something changes.
I hear Denmark is the happiest country, so maybe I'll move there...
The US Government has completely turned its back on Civil Liberties. Both the Democrats and Republicans are in it together. All of them want to have absolute power over the serfs who make up the lower classes of that country. I am from the USA, but I also left.
why can't GPS only be activated when you make a 911 call?
the technology is out there.
my battery does not last long if I turn on GPS on my phone
Emerald - good point.
Cirdecus - free market and deregulation is utopia and dangerous in real world.
why can't GPS only be activated when you make a 911 call? the technology is out there.my battery does not last long if I turn on GPS on my phone
Because then the government can't track you 24/7. Or the corporations can't sell your data. )See OnStar tracks you 24-7 to sell your data, even if you don´t subscribe:
http://consumerist.com/2011/09/ons [...] rvice.html
I love their estimates, by 2018 75% of all mobile devices will be GPS capable. The trend these days is rocketing towards smartphones, and find me a smartphone without a gps? lol
Another example of how horrible the US government has gotten. The government has no business telling private businesses what features and devices to integrate into their products. When do these stupid regulations stop!vote for Ron Paul
Lol the RonTards are here as well.
My cell phone already has GPS capabilities without any mandatory government requirement.
First thing I did was disable the GPS and the function of putting coords on my cell phone pictures. Darn Gvmt! Where's my tinfoil hat!
Bi Brother is watching you.... and he knows where you live....... and where you are
Bi Brother is watching you.... and he knows where you live....... and where you are
Guess I better get a Gaydar on my phone too?
Why would the government need to always track us... (for safety reason? 911 seems like BS to me) How is that serving the people? Sure it could help some people but it will most likely create problems even more problems. The world we live in today :-/
you are right, its not a safety feature. but it makes damn sure anyone who calls 911 is accountable. see, kids will buy a phone, and call 911, hang up quick after an abrviated conversation, effectivly prank calling them.
and until recently you could call with voip and have no accountability at all.
Another example of how horrible the US government has gotten. The government has no business telling private businesses what features and devices to integrate into their products. When do these stupid regulations stop!vote for Ron Paul
yes, they do have business telling us what we have to have. you may not like it, but america is one of the lesser invasive first world countries. you have to take the good with the bac
I don't understand how a free market translates into so much government regulation and interference?!Are we just acclimated to this type of thing and expect it? This is not freedom. This is corporatism.
if there wasn't government regulation, cocaine would still be in coke, there has to be some amount of coke that can effect you, but not be illegal considering that every 20 or 100$ bill has traces of it.
they would find the loopholes and exploit. its hard to adaquitly explain...
But..... GPS can't work in door. And I am not going to switch it on 24x7, because it drains batteries.
If it is not ON most of the time, when I switch it on, it might take up to 10 min to lock on.
It is a potentially slippery slope, but I like the idea. But then, I don't live under fear in the United States.
Having a committee to monitor these sorts of things never seems to work out in the US. The committee ends up becoming part of the problem.
Odd thing to "require" by government... I'm fine with it being there but if there is no option to turn it off (and I mean completely) then this is a major red flag.
It's like their "law" to require us to not use/buy incandescent light bulbs ... I mean shouldn't it be the consumer/market who decide what is best for them? These "good for you" laws are stepping over the "too much government" line.
Are there any "cell" phones anymore? I thought we got away from that tech?