Samsung Releases GPS Phone

Fletch writes: "I received an email from Samsung today announcing the release of 'America's First GPS Phone.' The phone does appear to have some neat GPS-based services, such as restaurant and traffic info. Those of you with privacy concerns need not worry. According to the manual (p122, large pdf file) the user does have the ability to turn the 'Position Location' off. (it will be automatically turned back on when/if an emergency call is made)." The manual doesn't say whether the phone initially defaults to "Tracking On" or "Off".

To save everyone from downloading that PDF file, here's the relevant section (innovative capitalization and punctuation in the original):

"America's First GPS Enabled Wireless Phone Designed to Support Location Based Services of the Future Imagine having a phone that can use GPS technology to provide you with....

• Driving directions
• Traffic service
• Entertainment/services location
• 911 emergency location services
• Location of family/friends

Location services for 911 calls are not currently available. While these services are not available today (or) (are still under development), this leading edge phone has the technology required to support such network based services upon their launch.

Settings

The settings allow you to turn the Position Location ON or OFF. If the option is turned OFF, the Sprint PCS Network cannot locate your position using the Position Location feature. This option is automatically turned ON when an emergency call is placed, then turned back OFF when the call is completed.

To turn Position Location ON or OFF:
1. Press for Main Menu.
2. Press for Locator.
3. Press for Settings.
4. Read the Position Location disclaimer by using the Up & Down arrows.
5. Press to display the Setting screen.
6. Press the Up or Down arrows to cycle between the available choices.
7. Press to Save and exit.

Comments

Opened the flood gate

[iamjim]

We all knew this was going to happen. It begins, wearable, trackable equipment... It can turn itself on? That can't be good.

Jim

Super-duper tracker

[standards]

Of course we're all waiting for the day when even more is integrated - and it'll come fairly soon. It takes very very little more to add a voice recorder, an MP3 player, and user programmability (via something like Java). You could program it to track your kids and phone in their location every 15 minutes. Haha, the heck with privacy from the phone companies, how about the parents???

It will take a bit more for a fully functional computation device - that'll take some seious improvement in user interface technology for small devices. We're still a ways away from big displays on an ever shrinking device - I think it's time for the paradigm shift to kick in away from LCD displays - and cell phone technology is just the incentive. As long as those patenteers stay away from monopolizing good ideas!

but _that_ is not my privacy concern...

[swinge]

Those of you with
privacy concerns need not worry. According to the manual (p122, large pdf file)
the user does have the ability to turn the 'Position Location' off.

I'm one of those with privacy concerns, but this phone does nothing to allay my concerns.

I want to use the nifty features but still have my privacy. Why does the deal have to be "use the feature and be abused by having the information used without your knowledge?" Why can't seemingly smart people figure stuff like this out?

The Nobel Prize (that's like a +1 Informative) in economics was awarded today in part for the research that showed how one side of a transaction having information that the other side doesn't have can tilt the balance so far that the market fails. I'd like to be able to walk into a shop and negotiate a price that is not based on full knowledge of my movements (perhaps at a competitor) being revealed.

yes, I could turn off the service, but that is a Luddite response which has nothing whatever to do with protecting privacy. Please God, make people smarter: privacy entails a lot more than checking "Jedi Knight" on the census form, or being able to unplug a solid state disk drive when the black helicopter people come through the front door. It's about being able to enjoy the fruits of the modern economy without being abused.

Re:but _that_ is not my privacy concern...

[michael]

Why does the deal have to be "use the feature and be abused by having the information used without your knowledge?" Why can't seemingly smart people figure stuff like this out?

Because the people making the deal are the phone companies, and they know it's a "take it or leave it" deal. They *are* smart people - they just aren't on your side. :( Their smartness is working to figure out how to make more money off of you, not how to give you the best phone experience (those are not equivalent!). And there is no one at any level of government - because the FCC is also crewed by people who think exactly like the phone companies - who is on your side.

You know this, of course. You seem like a bright person. But the average schmoe has no idea how or why his phone works, and most importantly, has no idea that it could work differently.

Re:but _that_ is not my privacy concern...

[iabervon]

You want it to get for you information that depends on your location without disclosing your location? That's going to be somewhat difficult, because the service can't help but know what information they're providing to you. What logs they keep and what they do with them is a privacy policy question. There's no way they're going to send all of the data there is to your little phone, and have the phone figure out what you want from a GPS reading that it doesn't send out.

Privacy Concerns

[Estragon]

Those of you with privacy concerns need not worry. According to the manual the user does have the ability to turn the 'Position Location' off. (it will be automatically turned back on when/if an emergency call is made).

Now this worries me.

Exactly how is it determined that an emergency call is being made?