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U.S. May Reduce Non-Military GPS Accuracy
ward99 writes "The U.S. government may be degrading GPS satellite signals, to cripple Iraqi forces' ability to use those systems
during the war. This could potentially reduce accuracy from ~3 meters to
over ~100 meters. Users depending on GPS systems may want to do sanity checks on any data returned by those systems during the war. The U.S.
will do this by increasing the inaccuracies on the civilian C/A code, turning back on S/A (Selective Availability), by having the satellites deliberately and randomly return inaccurate information on where they are. S/A degrades GPS
accuracy to only 100 meters 95 percent of the time and 300 meters the other 5 percent of the time. This will not effect the military P code."
This means that my grand dad can get lost in forrest while picking up mushrooms. I can get my legacy faster. :)
Which sane person would rely on GPS data for something even as trivial as navigation?
Have you tried navigating by the stars during the day lately? The blue room can be a big scary place.
John R. Smith, of Peoria (Ill.) drove his brand-new SUV through the security glass doors of his bank, while following his GPS navigator.
"I was only following the indications of this @!!%!! machine -- and it told me I still needed to travel straight ahead for a hundred meters!", Smith tried to explain as he was taken into custody by the Peoria Police Department for "breaking and entering".
The Peoria Intercontinental Bank representatives were unavailable for comments.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
I mean I know they sold them Anthrax, but didn't know about the GPS euipment ;)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
First guess says you need satellite access codes. Second guess says the stream is probably VERY well encrypted. Third guess says that if you access the military channels without permission, you'll have men in black helicopters doing fastrope descents on your place of residence within a few minutes (it's GPS, so they already know where you are.) Though I could just be blowing this out my ass, who knows.
imagine it thinking I'm a block away from where I really am.
Imagine, you could end up fucking a girl at the right address but on the wrong street, thinking it was your girlfriend.
I am eagerly awaiting that day. Then I can get free oil and beer!
3cx.org - A truly bad website.
Don't a number of commercial services like onstar use gps to track vehicles?
'Be calm madam, you are not lost. According to us you are floating off the coast of San Diego. You should be fine once high tide rolls in.'
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
It's not been scratched, it's waiting for a committee to decide when another committee will meet to reach an agreement on when to plan the first meeting of the EGSC (European Galileo Scheduling Commission).
Dude, it's from the head of a German Autoclub. The head! Not some secretary or anything.
All you need is the nuclear missile and the 100m doesn't matter anymore.
There is nothing wrong with being gay. It's getting caught where the trouble lies.
But this being slashdot, I guess most here prefer Dick and Colin.
Yep I can see it now...
"Honey, it told me to turn left here. We're on 4th St. We are supposed to be on 5th St. Damn the government. DAMN THEM FOR TURNING ON S/A!!!"
"Didn't you see the sign?"
"I was on the phone. Besides, that SUV blocked my view."
In-car navigation system: $1800
Handheld GPS: $200
Paper map: $5
Again, the dead-tree edition proves to have hidden advantages, such as never needing batteries, not breaking when you drop it, and having consistent results during wartime.
Chip H.
But we are your friends, and we like your freedom fries, mmmmmmm freedom fries.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
From New Scientist
Jammers can be deployed on mountaintops or tall antennas, but it is probably most economical to place them aboard aircraft. Langley thinks the US might also use "spoofing", in which fake signals fool the GPS receiver into thinking it is somewhere else.
Cool, make the enemy think they are about 500 miles east from where they really are.
Where the hell are we? This can't be right! According to this we are 300 miles out in the Gulf.
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
"I know the card says the hole is a 104-yard par 3, but the GPS says I'm 523 yards away. Better pull out the driver to be safe."
"I have as much authority as the pope, I just
don't have as many people who believe it" - George Carlin