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Apple Disables Egyptian iPhones' GPS
floydman writes "Apparently the Egyptian government is paranoid about its community using GPS devices, to the degree that it demanded Apple remove any GPS functionality from its iPhone 3G.
They claim that 'GPS functionality should be limited to military purposes.' Egyptian blogger Ahmed Gabr brought this issue up in another article, and talks about how this does not make sense, since Google maps and the like can be used. I also happen to know for a fact that most of the modern cars in Egypt have built-in GPS systems."
Can't they just look around and figure out which pyramids they are standing between and go from there?
"I don't have to think. I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news." - Meat Puppets
In a country that consists to a good deal of desert and other not too pleasant terrain where getting lost means dying it's a really, really good idea to disallow tools that allow you to find out where exactly you are.
Is it me or is this already beyond stupid and paranoid? What "advantage" could a terrorist/communist/boogymanoftheweek gain from knowing where he is? I guess those people are
a) knowledgeable enough of the area to know where they are.
b) Usually not interested in blowing themselves sky high in the middle of nowhere and
c) Not too picky of where they strike, as long as it causes enough people to get terrorized (hence their description).
So I'm waiting for a really good explanation why a potentially life saving function should be turned of for "security" reasons. I know, "national security" means "whatever keeps the government in power" these days, but shouldn't we at least keep the pretence up that it's about keeping the people safe?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Is this really about wanting to keep citizens from knowing where they are, or is it more about not wanting to have a programmable GPS-enabled device that could be used to detonate a bomb when it nears a specified location?
If the above is the case, it's a pretty dumb approach, since a GPS-enabled iPhone could just be smuggled in. Either way, it would be interesting to know what the real motives behind this ban are.
Wouldn't most governments generally prefer that their citizens be trackable? I can't imagine the Egyptian government is somehow a beacon of light in the world of internal spying, so what gives?
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Do they understand that GPS is currently intended for civilian use? The United States, being the owner of the system, can shut it off at any time. One of the primary reasons they will shut it off is in the case of foreign military use.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Non sequitur. There might be very few new cars, but most of that few might have GPS.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
and they're afraid to say what it is that they're afraid of.
Interesting.
I'm sure it has something to do with the Pyramids and geo-caching. :)
You should visit a few poor countries and note the amount of GPS devices there. I mean even in India there more than just commonplace.
Even on many things you wouldn't consider "cars" you find gps devices these days.
I always thought that camels have built in GPS.
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
Is that this is due to "leadership minds'" ignorance of the current state of technology. Someone thinks that by doing this, he has acclaimed a certain power to himself only (the government) in this case.
Is he is totally unaware, that most phones (HTC, I-mate, some nokia's) have GPS's in them, and if not, it didn't cross his mind that a simple wifi connection (quiet common in cairo, lived there for a couple of years) would be more than enough to act as a GPS look alike.
Dinosaurs in control if you ask me.
Someone mentioned above that he was walking around with a bluetooth GPS device, well you are not the only one, I was for a couple of years, a lot of other people I know also did.
The question is, how come Apple obliged...thats what does not make a lot of sense to me.
The lunatic is in my head
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Motre or less. Plus it's not uncommon for poor countries to have a very uneven weath distribution (yes Zimbabwe, I'm looking at you). Top of the range Mercedes with all the extras for the ruling clique, and nobody else can afford a car at all.
In that case 100% of new cars have GPS, climate control and gold-plated ashtrays.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
maybe Apple caved because they want to sell iphones there?
A Smith & Wesson beats four aces -- Murphy's Law of Poker
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Aha. And that falls under "most new cars" how, exactly? Would you like a side of fail with that?
I'd like to illustrate your point with superbly beautiful moving graphs! It is TED so you must click it.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html
To put this as politely as possible, some people need to get their liberal heads out of their asses and realize that the danger of terrorism is very real in some countries, and protection is absolutely required.
You misunderstand the comment, methinks. The problem is not that we do not believe in terrorism, or that it is a Bad Thing (tm).
What we are saying, from within our 'liberal asses', is that clamping down on the freedom to know where one is will do nothing to stop terrorism.
Therefore, we are arguing that one should not clamp down on that freedom.
In fact, some of us outrageous 'liberals', have this odd idea that _whenever taking away some freedom will do nothing or next to nothing to prevent some harm, that freedom should not be taken away_. If you are concerned about the death toll, take away the freedom to drive cars over 10 mph. Then we can talk about the next thing to go...
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Thank you, I'll be here all week.
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their nefarious plot is most transparent. by banning GPS the Egyptian government clearly means to induce a perpetually lost state in the population. this in turn would emasculate the entire civilian male population by forcing them to ask the military for directions, in essence surrendering every shred of their manhood to the Egyptian government in the ultimate act of sexual submission. the government, meanwhile, would have their throbbing virility cemented by their exclusive control of GPS technology--their GPS antennas standing fully erect, thrusting skyward as a potent symbol of their dominance over their now gelded population.
oh, such cruel tyranny. if only they'd gotten the G1 instead...
I was on vacation down there several years ago, pre-Katrina, but I do remember how difficult it was to navigate. At one point I actually spotted an intersection with two "One Way" signs pointing at each other!
For lack of a better signature...