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Worry Over VZW, Sprint Phones' 911 Alarm
[TheBORG] writes "An Austin woman who dialed 911 recently discovered what she said could be a fatal flaw in some new cell phones. She called for help when she arrived at some vacant property she owns in east Austin and found her security chain gone. She grabbed her new Verizon Wireless Casio G'zOne phone, which to her horror made an audible alarm when she called 911. Fearing vandals were still on the property, she hung up and hid, then put her hand over the earpiece and dialed again to muffle the sounds. A Verizon Wireless spokesperson says it's mandatory according to Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. The FCC says Section 255 of the Telecommunications Code requires that phones let a caller know a 911 call is underway, but does not require an audible alarm. This thread on Howardforums.com mentions that the alarm is present on new Sprint phones too."
There's her problem. She's using Verizon.
/any/ mobile telcos in the US that don't suck in one way or another? I hated dealing with them for a month as a tourist, let alone for any longer period.
Seriously.. are there
" requires that phones let a caller know a 911 call is underway, but does not require an audible alarm."
So now don't bother trying to call 911 the next time there's a school massacre - you'll just be targetting yourself and earning bonus points for your Darwin Award. Fucktards strike again.
I can kind of see the point of this, with all the people who've accidentally dialed 911 while the phone was in their pocket/purse. However, I think this may be the wrong way to go about solving the problem. I don't have any evidence to back up my theory, but I suspect most accidental calls don't actually dial the full 911. I've seen several cell phones before where simply holding down the 9 key will dial 911. If that isn't an accident waiting to happen, I don't know what is. Eliminate that, and I wonder how many accidental calls will be left.
Hm, a woman alone on vacant property with the suspicion that there are bad people there? Yeah, you're right, there's no potential for emergency there. Honestly, sometimes I wish Slashdot didn't allow AC posts. It would solve a lot of hot wind problems like this one.
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I have had several police officers in several different municipalities (even Chicago, which is quite understaffed and full of very real crime) tell me when I call the non-emergency line to call 911. They say that they would much rather respond quickly to even what seems like a minor problem so it doesn't become a major problem.
If I had mod points I'd mod you troll. I hardly ever do that, but really, you're just picking a dumb fight.
Of course, I'm the putz who bit on it
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
This is the kind of story that shows up in Risks Digest all the time - an email digest that ought to be mandatory reading for anyone involved in technological development.
Clearly the goal is to reduce bogus 911 calls that occur when a cell phone's keys get accidentally pushed, like in a purse or someone's pocket. But the first question that should have been asked is just how much of a problem are such calls? Yes, we get the occasional anecdote of cell phones gone wild, but is it really such an overwhelming problem that it needs to be fixed at all?
Second, presuming it is so common that 'something must be done' -- then they should have come up with an escalating alarm - like say more than 5 consecutive calls to 911 or more than 10 minutes air-time connected to 911 and the phone plays a short recorded message through the phone so both parties can hear it saying that it is going to start making noise in a few more minutes unless the user - or the 911 operator on the other end - types in a short number to disarm it. Even if the user doesn't know what to do in response to the message, the 911 people will quickly become familiar with such warnings that they will know what to do. (I'm assuming that 911 operators have actual keypads at their stations, that might not be the case.)
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Hello. I work for and with "those people". And no, they're not bright enough. I mean the people who actually make the decisions really, really aren't. They may ask their lawyers whether they're more likely to be sued for not doing it than for doing it, but they won't take you or my best interests into consideration for one second. Really, they won't.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
>Honestly, sometimes I wish Slashdot didn't allow AC posts. It would solve a lot of hot wind problems like this one.
It may not be obvious to you, but AC posts are vital to slashdot IMHO. I often post things from work AC that are about my employer, or contain relatively privileged information that I would like the community to know without being readily traceable to me. Yes they are also used for abuse, but these are quickly modded -1.
When I have mod points I specifically look for insightful or informative AC posts, as I have to post AC for some of my best comments.
I think you left out one possible outcome. If you don't go in all that's at risk is your stuff. By going in you've raised the stakes enormously. It doesn't matter if you are the toughest guy who ever walked the planet. As they say in poker, "Going all-in works every time. Right up until it doesn't."
I'm sure the people who designed this feature were bright enough to consider how it might be used, and when. I suspect that there is a great body of evidence showing that attracting attention to a bad situation is a very good strategy: scream for help, wave your arms, sound an alarm. These strategies are effective in a great majority of cases.
Whilst there might be an argument for having a phone be capable of operating as a siren/ELB/etc. It's hard to see any situation where you'd want it to do this at the same time as making a telephone call.
Even if she had been carrying a pistol, dialing 911 should still have been (at least nearly) her first act. And her phone should not have started making noise.
You got it! I'm on the line with Verizon right now, I immediately change my carrier to get that really cool feature!!!
Drawing attention only works in areas where people are likely to be and when there isn't some mental issue with the attacker and he/she is still able to tell right from wrong.
Cops use whistles to direct traffic not stop criminals caught in the act. They know what works best and what is the safest when in a situation. I agree that you can't always carry a weapon that would be effective at protecting yourself. So hiding and calling for help is probably the safest thing to do in a lot of situations outside of getting away from it.
In other words, if X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one...
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
I don't like automated "helper" systems like this that can't be overridden. It's my nature to try to come up with a situation where they'll do more harm than good. My pet anti-favorite is always-on headlights on cars. I imagine a scenario where you're in the middle of nowhere and trying to get away from the bad guys before they can find you. You ease the keys into the ignition of your silent-running electric car, take a deep breath, and turn it on - only to see your lights^Wbeacons come on. The bad guys jump out and shoot you.
Safety features are great, but they must be overrideable.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?