one small bobble
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| azerthoth Aug 19, 2009 5:52 PM EDT |
As to the GPS location, there is a federal mandate out that starting in 2010 all cell phones sold in the US will have and report the GPS location of the phone. Mixed in with CDMA/GSM triangulation your pretty much pinpointed if you have service to within 1 meter. These 'features' are not optional in the US. |
| softwarejanitor Aug 19, 2009 6:04 PM EDT |
@azerthoth Nice. Big brother is watching you. How long until they start measuring anyone who's phone is moving along a highway at faster than the posted limit and start sending them a ticket? |
| Scott_Ruecker Aug 19, 2009 6:56 PM EDT |
Don't give them any ideas.. |
| caitlyn Aug 19, 2009 7:05 PM EDT |
That idea has already been suggested and some states are looking into it. |
| softwarejanitor Aug 19, 2009 7:34 PM EDT |
If this sort of thing becomes a reality I will quit carrying a cell phone again. If I must have one it will be left off and with the battery removed if necessary until I need to make a call. If necessary I will buy one of those lead lined bags that they sell to put film in to prevent exposure from X-rays. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 19, 2009 7:42 PM EDT |
Wow. And people call ME a conspiracy nut. Who needs conspiracies, when it's all being done right out in the open? |
| tuxchick Aug 19, 2009 7:45 PM EDT |
Bob Robertson, Prophet! |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 19, 2009 8:32 PM EDT |
TC, please, I'm an anarcho-capitalist: Profit! |
| theboomboomcars Aug 19, 2009 8:39 PM EDT |
One of the big debates right now is how to track a person's mileage so they can add a mileage tax for driving. I guess the cell phone is it. Makes me glad I don't have one. |
| jdixon Aug 19, 2009 9:19 PM EDT |
> How long until they start measuring anyone who's phone is moving along a highway at faster than the posted limit and start sending them a ticket? The next step will be to mandate that the GPS and cell phone be built into the car. For "safety reasons" of course. And it will be illegal to turn them off. Eventually they will decide to implant both those and a unique identifier chip (with your full medical history, etc.) directly into the body at birth. Again, it will be mandatory and will be illegal to remove or turn off. Comparisons to the Christian prophecy of "the mark of the beast", and the likely consequences thereof, are left as an exercise for the reader. |
| caitlyn Aug 19, 2009 9:33 PM EDT |
@jdixon: Sorry, I don't see it happening. You live in the United States as do I. This is still a Democracy and the American people just won't stand for it. No, not the GPS in the car That probably will happen. Violating our bodies, though, is beyond what the people here will accept. |
| tuxchick Aug 19, 2009 10:04 PM EDT |
Democracy? Won't stand for it? I'd say most Americans are boiled frogsby now, and still not objecting. |
| Scott_Ruecker Aug 19, 2009 10:14 PM EDT |
You know, I was thinking..don't say it..;-) What if we could track each other on our cell phones? I know that Carla's position would not move out much but it would be cool to know of anyone I cared about was within the AZ state lines once in a while...;-) |
| tuxchick Aug 19, 2009 10:28 PM EDT |
User control would be awesome, Scott. But I'm afraid that's un-american. |
| jdixon Aug 19, 2009 11:42 PM EDT |
Caitlyn, I think TC's response is fairly accurate. I don't like the fact, but I don't really see any massive opposition to the it outside the fundamentalist Christian churches, and possibly the Roman Catholic Church. And that's only because of the clear parallels to the above mentioned prophecy. Both of the major political parties would be firmly behind it, if the recent past is any indication. I'd love to be proven wrong. |
| tracyanne Aug 19, 2009 11:48 PM EDT |
Quoting:it would be cool to know of anyone I cared about was within the AZ state lines once in a while...;-) It might be cool, but such an ability can all too easily be abused by governments, not to mention criminals and corporations. All you have to do is look at England to see how easy it is to abuse the ability to spy on people that modern technology gives us. And the rational is ALWAYS that is in our best interests. |
| caitlyn Aug 20, 2009 1:37 AM EDT |
@jdixon: There are plenty of privacy advocates on the left as well who would scream bloody murder. Without getting into politics let's just say the traditional left/right divide wouldn't apply in the case of this issue. You'd have a very interesting and probably unique coalition fighting this. |
| mortenalver Aug 20, 2009 3:57 AM EDT |
Quoting:What if we could track each other on our cell phones? I know that Carla's position would not move out much but it would be cool to know of anyone I cared about was within the AZ state lines once in a while...;-) This service has already been available here (Norway) for a few years. It's mostly targeted at young people who want to keep track of each other. Of course you need to actively register for the service before anyone can track you. |
| jdixon Aug 20, 2009 7:21 AM EDT |
> You'd have a very interesting and probably unique coalition fighting this. Well, the recent health care backlash gives me cause some cause for hope, but I'm still not optimistic. However, this is one of only two issues I can think of likely to cause such a backlash against government power in the US, so I hope you're correct and I'm wrong. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 20, 2009 7:41 AM EDT |
> I'd say most Americans are boiled frogs by now... No argument there. > Violating our bodies, though, is beyond what the people here will accept. Watch for mandated flu shots. > You'd have a very interesting and probably unique coalition fighting this. Yesterday, someone posted a comic about how Linux can scale to huge numbers of processors, but can't cleanly play a flash video. I had just finished watching a flash video of an Australian "leftist" saying some really nasty things about what's going on right now. Which just demonstrates that the Nolan chart is much closer to reality than just "left, right". Ah, here it is (the Linux comic) http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/supported_features.png > It's mostly targeted at young people who want to keep track of each other. I seem to have a vague memory of a commercial, where a parent is looking at their cellphone and getting a map to where their teenager is located. I agree it's an excellent service for those who want it, but I would not want it mandated. (but then, I don't want anything mandated, QED) |
| jacog Aug 20, 2009 8:56 AM EDT |
Bob, xkcd usually has title text in its strips, so if you link to the actual page that comic is on, you can read it... the purpose of that strip was less to do with Linux as a whole, but more a stab at the bad new Intel video drivers. This is fun too. The title text is funnier than the actual strip. :) http://xkcd.com/272/ |
| gus3 Aug 20, 2009 9:19 AM EDT |
And here's the full page of the comic Bob linked to: http://xkcd.com/619/ |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 20, 2009 9:21 AM EDT |
I just used the link that the other guy gave, I didn't see the whole strip. Thanks for the link. |
| bigg Aug 20, 2009 9:35 AM EDT |
I don't see anything wrong with that comic. I'd have a lot more use for 4096 CPUs than full-screen Flash videos. Then I could use OpenMP rather than MPI, CUDA, or OpenCL. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 20, 2009 10:44 AM EDT |
What was wrong is that one of the astroturfers (well, he may not be, but his arguments against F/OSS (but not BSD) are right out of the MS astroturf handbook we know so well) used it as a perfect example of how Linux is useless for the desktop. Ugh. |
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