Slashdot Mirror
Android's New Feature Can Share Your Exact Location In Emergency Situation (thenextweb.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Next Web: When the police, fire brigade or ambulances need to respond quickly to an emergency call, accurate information about the caller's location is crucial in helping them arrive in time to be of assistance. With that in mind, Google has introduced a feature in Android that beams your location to emergency services automatically when you call them. It uses your Wi-Fi, GPS and cell tower information to pinpoint exactly where you are and sends the data without allowing it to be accessed by anyone else. The feature is currently available in UK and Estonia, but Google plans to bring it to other regions as well. If your device has Android 2.3 or newer version, it will be able to make use of the feature.
I think TFS is saying that the feature can be backported to 2.3 or newer. Granted, I don't know what phones out there are on Gingerbread and still getting updates... (Maybe the point of this is so that legislation can mandate it, thus compelling carriers and OEMs to issue a patch, but that's unlikely.)
Who's emergency? TLA's or LEA's "emergency", or my own?
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
I take it this will work without the user having to approve anything and even if the GPS is turned off in the settings?
Google supplies multiple parts of the OS. One is the runtime for the apps, the actual OS. This one is what is has the 2.3 versions etc. This is also the one that google has no direct control over, as its open source and has to go through the manufacturers first before it reaches the users.
Then there are the google play services. Its a bundle of apps developed by google, and auto-updating. These are under google's direct control, and this is where the feature was added. They can easily push it to all phones even the older ones as they can update google play services as they want.
There are phones without google play services, but they are a tiny minority. Most prominent example for android devices without play services are the amazon kindle readers.
This "your precise location is never seen or handled by Google" is just manufactured truth. Yes, it is theoretically correct, but if the location is found using Wi-fi, then it must go over google's servers. Essentially the phone uploads the list of BSSIDs it sees and their strength, and google answers with a location. Its not the "exact" location, as that is a term used for GPS, but google does know and handle your non-exact location when you use their wifi service.
Doesn't sound like it can't be accessed by anyone else like the article states, just that it gets sent on a direct route between your phone and emergency services. OTA MITM attacks could still get that information.
I imagine your phone isn't even packaging that information to send unless an emergency call is being placed, much less actually sending it. Are you really concerned about being man-in-the-middled in that scenario? In the US your 911 call becomes public record anyway.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
This is for backwards countries that haven't rolled out Enchanced 911 services. Great Britain and Estonia sounds about right. Other countries don't need this because calls to 911 from gps-equiped smartphones already send the location data to the call center via the carrier.
Wireless Enhanced 9-1-1 service
This type of wireless 9-1-1 service is provided in areas that receive Enhanced 9-1-1 service. To improve the safety and security of Canadians, the CRTC required wireless carriers to upgrade their 9-1-1 services to provide an enhanced capability to identify the location of wireless 9-1-1 callers. This is particularly important in emergency situations where the caller is unable to speak or cannot identify his or her location. This improved location capability is enabled by two technologies:
Global Positioning System (GPS) or Triangulation Capability
With Enhanced 9-1-1, wireless carriers use Global Positioning System (GPS) or Triangulation technology to identify a 9-1-1 caller’s location (generally within 50 to 300 meters of the cellphone). The emergency call and the caller’s location are automatically transmitted to a 9-1-1 call centre serving that area.
Not all new cellphones have GPS capability. To get more information on a cellphone’s 9-1-1 service, check your manual or ask your wireless service provider. GPS capability uses signals from satellites to determine a cellphone’s location.
If your cellphone does not have GPS capability, wireless carriers can also use triangulation technology, which locates the caller by measuring the cellphone signal’s distance from nearby cellphone towers.
The location information, as determined by either GPS or triangulation, will be provided to the 9-1-1 operator if you are using either a cellphone with pre-paid minutes or a wireless service plan. If you have a cellphone but are not subscribed to any service, you can still dial 9-1-1 in an emergency and get basic wireless 9-1-1 service.
The US has a more complicated regulatory environment, where there is a disincentive to offering E911 services because if you (the carrier) does offer it and is not in compliance, the carrier gets penalties imposed.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Why not let users send their position by hitting a button? I'm thinking that it could insert text giving your location in text, or speech into a phone call, if you hit a "send my location" button. Then it'd work not just magically with E911 services (which, of course, is a great thing) but could work on normal phone calls (e.g. a kid calling Mom for help) or SMS (e.g. a kid texting Mom for help). The phone has the info, and it'd be easier to deploy, because it doesn't require any integration to anything outside of the phone.
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
What I'd like to see is something that can share my exact location with non-emergency services in non-emergency situations. Like when my wife asks "where are you?" or I ask my kids the same, it'd be nice to have a button to push that says "I'm right here" with coordinates and maybe even map-based street addresses (and if you want to get *really* fancy, would also send my current destination and ETA if navigation was active)
It's entirely possible this already exists and I just haven't found it yet.
Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?