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Why Uber Can Find You but 911 Can't (wsj.com)

Accurate location data is on smartphones, so why don't more wireless carriers use it to locate emergency callers? From a report, shared by a reader: Software on Apple's iPhones and Google's Android smartphones help mobile apps like Uber and Facebook to pinpoint a user's location, making it possible to order a car, check in at a local restaurant or receive targeted advertising. But 911, with a far more pressing purpose, is stuck in the past. U.S. regulators estimate as many as 10,000 lives could be saved each year if the 911 emergency dispatching system were able to get to callers one minute faster. Better technology would be especially helpful, regulators say, when a caller can't speak or identify his or her location. After years of pressure, wireless carriers and Silicon Valley companies are finally starting to work together to solve the problem. But progress has been slow. Roughly 80% of the 240 million calls to 911 each year are made using cellphones, according to a trade group that represents first responders. For landlines, the system shows a telephone's exact address. But it can register only an estimated location, sometimes hundreds of yards wide, from a cellphone call. That frustration is now a frequent source of tension during 911 calls, said Colleen Eyman, who oversees 911 services in Arvada, Colo., just outside Denver.

200 comments

  1. Because gubbermint! by asylumx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Admittedly posting this having only read the headline, but the answer is obvious:
    Because people apparently trust corporations like Uber, Facebook, etc. with all kinds of sensitive data, but for God's sake don't trust the government with the time of day!

    1. Re:Because gubbermint! by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      No, it's because people don't want to pay taxes. And taxes pay for such improvements. Other countries have had this for years.

    2. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A problem! Quick! Spend somebody else's money!

    3. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair if the government produced a 911 app that people could optionally download many would.

      Especially if the app has any kind of non emergency utility, like maybe it could look up the non-ermegency phone numbers for local police, hospital, fire, animal control, etc. based on your curent location as well.

      Where the distrust comes in is that the usual approach is "we need a government access back door to location info built into the phone's OS", which looks ratehr a lot less like supporting good emergency services and more like using an excuse to get more broadly applicable surveillance tools for otehr reasons.

    4. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once the government mandates phone tracking for safety they'll know where your phone is forever for whatever reason they want.

      FTFY

    5. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Or, and just stick with me a sec, this will be complicated - it's because you contact UBER VIA A DATA STREAM THAT CAN SEND LOCATION INFORMATION and regular telco systems were not orignally designed to have a data carrier signal. Caller ID was strapped on at some point, but EVERY SWITCH ALONG THE WAY has to be updated, and the entire 911 center changed from being a telephone line, to a data endpoint on the internet.

      It boggles my mind that anyone, anywhere, with any degree of a tech background, could ever ask "why can Uber find me but 911 can't?" Walk over to a payphone and call Uber. Can they find you then? Is there even a number to call? 911 mapped your number to your address via info from the phone companies. Mobile phones are mobile. They move around. They can't be just mapped via a simple lookup. And unless you can send a datastream to the person you're calling and give them your gps info...why in the holy hell would you think they can just know here you are? ALSO, think hard before you give the police the ability to always track your location, independently of the phone company. Whatever solution you do, might be best as one that only works for the 911 call itself, not just in general (some solutions suggest the former, for "simplicity," since it would require less infrastructure changes on the local gov).

    6. Re: Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you install your os as well? Every single platform has WiFi gps assist and therefore knows your location almost all the time.

    7. Re:Because gubbermint! by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 1

      They already do.

      --
      sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
    8. Re:Because gubbermint! by Rob+Y. · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, yeah. But the assumption was that the mobile company does know your location - or at least the location of the tower you're connected to. And if it knows your distance from two separate towers, then bingo. But they don't have a standard way to let the 911 system know that. Presumably, the mobile operator knows you dialed 911, and so could forward what location info it has to the 911 operator. But that's a big system upgrade.

      And yeah, Uber has a much easier job - since it's app on your phone send your location info to them directly. As others have stated, an app on the phone could send 911 info. But who is that app going to connect to. There's a whole different internet-based 911 system that would need to be developed to handle that. And maybe it should be...

      --
      Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
    9. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Why not just have a 911 App preinstalled on all phones. Single click and you are able to connect. Only cooperation needed from phone companies is that the App should work even without data service kind of like how even a locked phone can be used to call 911. Send the GPS data stream in the App. HAve the app backend call the 911 switchboard and patch the call through with a prerecorded message - This call is coming from .....

    10. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The tax for 911 services is added to your phone bill. In my state, for many years, the e911 fee money recieved by the state has been split roughly 1/3 for e911 services, and 2/3s to the general state coffers.

      Maybe people wouldn't be so opposed to taxes if the existing taxes were used for the things they claimed they were for.

    11. Re: Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      couldve sworn that E911 tries to get your cell phone to get a gps fix, and send that to the 911 center. automatically. along with cell tower triangulation info from the provider.
      Of course, Wikipedia shows that it's up to the provider (in the US) how they meet the FCC requirement.

    12. Re:Because gubbermint! by Macthorpe · · Score: 1

      They already know where you are within a hundred feet or so via cell-tower triangulation. Not allowing precise location data is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    13. Re: Because gubbermint! by megamind · · Score: 1

      Because no tech company wants the responsibility. If we actually took care of each other instead of suing each other when something goes wrong this wouldn't be an issue.

    14. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      "mobile company does know your location" - I already addressed this. The issue isn't you, it's the place you're calling. THEY are just a phone bank. So there are 2 options, as I mentioned. First, let the police always know where you are at all times, so that they can then do a simple lookup of your number to your address, OR somehow change ALL the infrastructure along the way to handle data streams all along the way that can send data (you know, the GPS info). And keep in mind that's not going to be nearly as useful of info as what 911 has on landlines in places that are 3 dimensional (ie, buildings that go up, not just GPS coordinates). The telephone systems weren't designed to carry that info. Your wireless carrier too would have to triangulate your location, for that matter, unless they tap into a data stream that is yanking your GPS info and sending it to them - they don't just immediately "know" your exact location information otherwise. And your wireless carrier knows this info independently of any phone calls you make - it knows via a lower level communication. If you're having a heart attack, you need precise location information...not "near X tower." So ask yourself - do you want your phone constantly telling the police exactly where you are at all times? Or, perhaps, would it maybe be better to come up with an entirely different solution that didn't assume that calls over a telephone line work the same as data streams over the internet.

    15. Re:Because gubbermint! by Sloppy · · Score: 1

      It boggles my mind that anyone, anywhere, with any degree of a tech background, could ever ask "why can Uber find me but 911 can't?"

      It's not a technical question. It's a rhetorical question about the requirements. Nobody gives the slightest fuck about the technical answer, because it's irrelevant. The question is obviously intended to criticize how we've approached the problems, our values, etc.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    16. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      It absolutely is a technical question. There are a lot of people who sincerely wonder why Uber can find them and 911 can't, and don't understand it's because the communication channels are entirely different. I do love the idea that you think the unwashed masses sit around pontificating on rhetorical questions, though.

    17. Re:Because gubbermint! by Macdude · · Score: 1, Troll

      Uber, Facebook, etc. don't send armed men to your home to kill you when someone pranks them and sends them to your home.

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Wichita,_Kansas_swatting

      --
      "Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
    18. Re:Because gubbermint! by ckatko · · Score: 1

      I wonder if you'd be okay with the government using tracking data to deport illegal immigrants.

        - Tracking guns. GOOD
        - Tracking data in general. GOOD.
        - Government in general. GOOD.

        - Enforcing laws related to immigration. OMFGLKEWRNGALKDSNDASLGKNG!~@!$!!@#!%!@#%!@#K%!@L%@LKBFDLlafd---eRRRORORRRRRRRRR

    19. Re:Because gubbermint! by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Because at the end of the day I can uninstall Uber

      Because at the end of the day I can not even install Uber in the first place.

      --
      No sig today...
    20. Re:Because gubbermint! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 3, Funny

      Walk over to a payphone and call Uber.

      What is this "payphone" of which you speak?

    21. Re:Because gubbermint! by plopez · · Score: 1

      At the end of the day all the data gathered by Uber et. al. will be scattered far and wide to be used by marketers, insurance companies, credit reports, identity thieves etc. There are more safeties in place in government information gathering.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    22. Re:Because gubbermint! by plopez · · Score: 1

      What's wrong with pensions? Civil servants make less than the private sector they need some reward.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    23. Re:Because gubbermint! by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      It boggles my mind that anyone, anywhere, with any degree of a tech background

      e911 says "Hi". And it would like to remind you that the upgrades you are ranting about have already been installed. Something someone with a tech background might look into before claiming 911 calls are handled the same as POTS traffic.

      Walk over to a payphone and call Uber. Can they find you then?

      Yep. The payphone has a physical address associated with it, and assuming Uber bought the directory from the phone company, they can look it up.

      ALSO, think hard before you give the police the ability to always track your location, independently of the phone company.

      I would think someone with a tech background would know that the police already have the ability to always track your location. Stingray exists.

      Also, I would think someone who thought about this issue for more than a minute would realize that the nefarious government agents out to track your every move aren't going to be asking your permission before installing their tracking software. Either directly or by camouflaging it as enhanced 911 software. They'll just install it on the baseband processor and call it a day.

    24. Re:Because gubbermint! by KingMotley · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure that GPS also contains altitude information. It's just most people don't care about it, and most applications don't show it.

    25. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A simple SMS with your location and phone number should be enough to correlate the location to the call.

    26. Re:Because gubbermint! by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      And if it knows your distance from two separate towers, then bingo.

      Actually, not quite. There's always a little bit of uncertainty in the distance measurements so what you get from two towers is a little blob containing your location. Using three towers cuts the size of the blob down to almost nothing for all practical purposes, such as having paramedics find you. That's why they call the process "triangulation."

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    27. Re:Because gubbermint! by Kohath · · Score: 0

      Civil servants make less than the private sector

      False

    28. Re:Because gubbermint! by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      Having a standard for a 911 app that transmits location data looks like the way to go to me also. However, having the app work without data service should not require anything special from the phone companies. The necessity of requiring something special from the phone companies is why location doesn't work now. Instead, the app could act as a modem over a regular voice connection and send location data once at the start of the call, and again if the caller hits a "send location" button on the screen. The app should visually tell the user and tell 911 via modem if location data is not available. If there was a standard for smartphones to send location data to 911 over voice, then every phone manufacturer could make a 911 app that would work best with their hardware (eg. providing the option to automatically turn on hardware components that the user might normally keep turned off). The app could also automate texting location data for people who use text to access 911. For people with fast data service available, the app could also have the option to transmit video.

    29. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As others have stated, an app on the phone could send 911 info. But who is that app going to connect to. There's a whole different internet-based 911 system that would need to be developed to handle that. And maybe it should be...

      The dialer on the phone knows that 911 is 'special'. Or at least, that is trivial to program. So it can turn on the gps and try its best to get a position. Then the problem is to get the information across. It could send the coordinates to 911 by SMS. They would need to have a mobile phone there receiving 911 SMSes, not that hard.

      Or if that IS too hard, have the app reading the position using speech synthesis when the caller and operator cease talking.

    30. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How hard would it be to convert all phones to VOIP and data-centric communication? Then all 911 phone calls could have extra data attached, like location of caller, or maybe even PHOTO of caller.

    31. Re: Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind 911 varies unbeleivably drastically from state to state but 911 calls dont really go to a bank of regular phones. They go to a psap(public safety answering point). Along with the actual voice line for conversation they have data links for other purposes such as ali(address info) based on a query using the callng party number.

        The cell towers basically have three sides each with their own indentifying information for location services. The telcoâ(TM)s (yes the old landline lecs) can handle geotag info but they are generally just sent tower info to decide which psap to send the call to as with cell phones you have to route based of where the phone is rather than its number.

    32. Re:Because gubbermint! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why should they when there are cases of people calling 911 only to get hung up on and arrested?

    33. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      I'm well aware of E911. I find it a bit confusing that you somehow thing 911 call centers wouldn't have to change their infrastructure to accommodate it. BTW, if you know of a place to "call" Uber to get a ride, and can convince them to show up without you being able to pre-approve your credit card and identity, then hey man - good on you. Also also ps - you're a bit paranoid. And a bit missing the point.

    34. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      huh, I guess at some point this site stopped doing a href, or I must have done a typo. Anyway, I think this earlier post should answer whether I'm aware of E911: https://slashdot.org/comments....

    35. Re:Because gubbermint! by SandorZoo · · Score: 2

      The dialer on the phone knows that 911 is 'special'. Or at least, that is trivial to program. So it can turn on the gps and try its best to get a position. Then the problem is to get the information across. It could send the coordinates to 911 by SMS. They would need to have a mobile phone there receiving 911 SMSes, not that hard.

      The funny thing is that every Android phone since Gingerbread (2010) can already send an SMS with location data when an emergency call is made. That's 99% of all Android phones. Google call it Emergency Location Service although it's actually Google's implementation of Advanced Mobile Location. It's currently used by the emergency services in the UK, Estonia, Lithuania, Belgium, Iceland, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand and parts of Austria. All it takes is for the mobile providers to configure a number to send the SMSes to, and to forward them to the 911 responders.

    36. Re:Because gubbermint! by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      It boggles my mind that anyone, anywhere, with any degree of a tech background, could ever ask "why can Uber find me but 911 can't?"

      Indeed. Mobile phones and services haven't changed since the early 90s. .... wait... actually even in the early 90s there was a way to get a Short Message to someone. We could have called it a Short Message Service of sorts and have a phone automatically send GPS to responders via a Short Message Service to pre-defined number. That's to say nothing of modern phone systems which allow simultaneous data streams.

      But we don't need to say anything of modern systems. The systems in place in the UK (AML for various handsets, ESL for Android version 2.3 and above) do precisely that. You dial 112 or 999 and your phone will automatically force enable GPS, get a fix, and SMS that along with an ID for the call to emergency services, all using that early 90s era technology that seems to boggle your mind.

      Honestly after that post we should revoke your geek card.

    37. Re:Because gubbermint! by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      Also pretty sure that GPS rarely works indoors. So your altitude will do no good if you are in a sky-scrapper.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    38. Re:Because gubbermint! by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      altitude is dramatically less accurate than lat/long, and GPS in general tends to be thrown off a lot by the types of things tall buildings are made from.

  2. no article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    too bad i cant RTF article

  3. honest answer: by nimbius · · Score: 1, Insightful

    the $1.99 "911/emergency service" fee your cell company charges is mandated by state law, and was originally set up to fund 911 call centers. they largely came about after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help modernize radio systems. after the 2008 housing collapse and recession, most states just redirected the 911 fee to the general fund out of sheer desparation to keep the wheels on the late-stage capitalism bus fueled by the fumes of corporate tax dodging and globalist outsourcing.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:honest answer: by kilodelta · · Score: 1

      Yeah but who gets the money? I had Vonage for a long time and then they started cramming all the bogus fees on there. At the time both of us had mobile phones so the decision was made to kick Vonage to the curb.

      But the thing is, telecoms have been famous for putting charges on bills that never went to the state agencies etc. but only allowed them to recover taxes they paid to the state.

    2. Re:honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It should NEVER be allowed to redirect funds. The fee should go away and the income/sales/property taxes raised.

    3. Re:honest answer: by Kohath · · Score: 0, Troll

      after the 2008 housing collapse and recession, most states just redirected the 911 fee to the general fund

      General fund, a.k.a. government worker pensions — money spent providing zero government services to anyone: no lives saves, no schoolchildren taught, no crimes investigated, no roads built or repaired, nothing except fat monthly checks to non-workers.

    4. Re:honest answer: by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You really don't understand how state pensions work. I, for one, used to have one (I cashed my non-vested money out when I quit my job because I don't trust Illinois). You pay into it instead of Social Security (My share was 8% at the time). That money is supposed to be invested and earn a return. The state government has been robbing that money for years (yes, for the "general fund") - so not only is it not earning dividends, it's losing value to inflation.

      And then the state governor blames the people that paid into the pension for being "greedy" when the reality is that it was always supposed to be a separate, completely solvent fund. No, there are a few cherry-picked outliers, but the reality is that the money is gone because of state mismanagement, not because of the people who paid a large share of their paycheck into it for decades.

    5. Re: honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the 911 fee was dictated as much by the telco providers to pay for their "costs" (real and accounting tricks) to interface with the 911/e-911 mandated requirements.

    6. Re:honest answer: by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      Targeted money doesn't work either. For example, in states where all lottery profits go to education (or whatever), they typically just reduce the funding from the general fund by the same amount. Technically everything is "correct", but the end-result is exactly the same as it would be if the earmarked money went into the general fund anyway.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    7. Re:honest answer: by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Whether that's correct or not (I'll say yes, it's correct but it's only ~25% of the story) the solution is no pensions for new hires and no pension increases (or any other action that might result in a pension increase) for existing workers. Contribute to a 401k and buy life insurance like everyone else.

    8. Re:honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is called "welfare", just under a different name. The best thing that can happen is that Social Security and these bloated follies get handed to some entity like Wells Fargo or Bancorp and turned into a 401k program, managed by people who know what they are doing. Get the government out of mismanaging retirements, forcing people to have additional taxes to fund a gravy train for those who just were lucky enough to get in when the pyramid scheme wasn't completely built yet.

    9. Re:honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real solution is to hand the pension to a competent investing corporation and have it converted to an annuity with 20 years in it. This is what the city I live in has done, and it has been a net positive result for all involved.

      Pensions are a Ponzi scheme, pure and simple.

    10. Re:honest answer: by Kohath · · Score: 1

      That’s a good scheme for existing pensions. Pensions for future workers should be made illegal nationwide.

    11. Re:honest answer: by jbengt · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pensions are a Ponzi scheme, pure and simple.

      Says someone who obviously has no idea what a Ponzi scheme actually is.

    12. Re:honest answer: by plopez · · Score: 2

      Sales taxes are regressive, and the rich make sure property and income taxes remain artificially low.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    13. Re:honest answer: by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      That fee is actually decades older than you claim.

      Federal law mandates that every phone line in the country can call 9/11, whether or not there is a customer paying for service on that line. The fee (nominally) pays for that for phone lines that are not in service.

      The fee also doesn't go to state governments, so they can't "redirect" the money anywhere. It goes to 1) the phone companies, and 2) the Feds, who can then issue grants to state and local governments to maintain/upgrade their equipment. The only possible redirection argument would be claiming states didn't have to spend their own money on these call centers because of the Federal money, but the state can't just decide to spend the Federal money on something else.

      The fee was jacked up after the 9/11 attacks because the attacks demonstrated many of the 911 centers were not adequate, and needed to be upgraded.

    14. Re:honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... because of state mismanagement ...

      They did this in a number of ways.

      1) Investment fixed growth. They promise the fund will make a fixed rate of growth. It meant, when the investment market went backwards (like in 2002), the pension fund still accrued value, so that money had to come from elsewhere.

      2) Current wage payout. Instead of a fixed-growth payout, they used a end-salary payout. This is similar to long-service leave. Here, one could pay in as a secretary for 10 years. But when it's time to pay out, it's done at the wage of regional manager. Again, this means a shortfall in the money actually accrued.

      3) Under-contributed. This happens all the time: There is a few years of rapid inflation, or employees spend more time in school, or leaves the workforce a few years for family or illness, or both. It means the 6% or 9% (or recently, 12%) contribution isn't sufficient to counter that loss of value or loss of payments over time and provide a nest-egg.

      4) Robbing the piggy-bank. This happens all the time. Politicians always want more money, it's why temporary taxes aren't repealed when a debt is fully paid. So they spend all forms of revenue and hope to raise taxes later. This means a small base of wage-stalled employees must pay pensions for a large population of generously accrued (see 1 & 2) baby boomers.

    15. Re:honest answer: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      . . . That money is supposed to be invested and earn a return. The state government has been robbing that money for years . . .

      Why do you rob banks, Mr. Sutton?

      Union-negotiated pension plans were so successful that they became big, fat, juicy targets. As the unions lost membership and power, the corporate funds were pillaged first, and the public sector unions were looted by subtler means, as you describe.

      Any place where large amounts of money collects will be subject to the attack of predators and parasites, large and small, and will eventually be corrupted. Will your modest privately-held nest egg be safe because you "control" where it's invested? No. It will not. Predators will be attracted by pooled money in stocks or bonds or the US treasury or gold or bitcoin or in a hole in your backyard. There's no escape. There's no respite.

      The "plan" was that competing predators would counter-balance each other and prevent any one from occupying too much of the wealth/power pie. That strategy may have worked briefly and intermittently throughout history. But the competitors' techniques have improved over time. Now, with a hundred years of scientific marketing and propaganda at our backs, people can be convinced into ruining themselves under a popularly-elected government.

      I don't believe that anyone is better off if the boot stamping on a human face forever belongs to a political bureaucrat or a corporate bureaucrat. Still a boot. Still your face.

      But things that aren't scarce are of no interest to thieves. When human labor and attention become largely worthless and the cost of producing basic necessities asymptotically approaches zero, we might get some peace. At that point, perhaps, the game might go on for the "masters of the universe", but an individual who sees no value in nursing a competition fetish can resign without forfeiting basic human dignity.

      An old man can dream for his children, no?

    16. Re:honest answer: by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      That's neither necessarily a solution nor the only solution. It may not be a solution if the fund relies on people paying in now to support people who retired earlier, like Social Security works. It's not the only solution: it could be run like a 401(k). (BTW, life insurance is irrelevant here. You can often get life insurance at group rates through an employer, which may be less expensive than buying your own, so figure out what's best for you and your needs. The only way life insurance would be relevant to retirement would be if you bought whole life, which is generally a worse idea than buying term insurance while you need it and contributing to a 401(k).)

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  4. Because you gave consent to Uber... by Kenja · · Score: 1

    even if you don't know you did. It's there in the EULA.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Because you gave consent to Uber... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If you used a phone with a proper permission system, you'd know you were giving permission for location data, or you're willfully ignorant (didn't read the prompt), and who the fuck cares what happens to willfully-ignorant people?

    2. Re:Because you gave consent to Uber... by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

      Laws are there to protect stupid, weak, willfully-ignorant people. This is why a pickpocket is prosecuted for theft, when the victim could possibly have prevented the theft in the first place.

  5. Funding by Bigbutt · · Score: 2

    The technology is out there but if the government doesn't want to buy it or can't due to funding, then it isn't going to be available. I work in the industry and there's quite a bit of new tech being created but it still costs money to implement (not to mention infrastructure upgrades by the towns, etc).

    [John]

    --
    Shit better not happen!
  6. Solution by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Write an app that transmits your location when 911 is being called. Advertise it to people to install it on their phone for the times when they need it. Watch people not install it because they are afraid their government might track them, but they're more than happy to hand the very same information to Uber, Facebook and everyone else giving them ... well, basically nothing.

    If I was your government, I'd probably shit on you, too.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have this already in Finland, but requires people to install the app. When the app detects a call to 112 emergency number, it activates GPS and sends location and your phone number (which you have to enter during install) to the emergency dispatch system.

    2. Re:Solution by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

      Does it even need to be this hard?

      Develop an e911 system and mandate (or even suggest) that mobile software makers have an option to turn it on. The mobile software makers can decide whether it defaults to on or off and the end user can switch the switch as often as they like.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    3. Re:Solution by Dorianny · · Score: 1

      Write an app that transmits your location when 911 is being called. Advertise it to people to install it on their phone for the times when they need it. Watch people not install it because they are afraid their government might track them, but they're more than happy to hand the very same information to Uber, Facebook and everyone else giving them ... well, basically nothing.

      That's because there is one purpose Government can misuse information for that even the most nefarious Corporation can't.

      Lock you away in a 6x8 prison cell

      .

      If I was your government, I'd probably shit on you, too.

      They have and continue to do so on many innocent people

    4. Re:Solution by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The other difference is that your government is supposed to work for you, something a corporation only does if you're a shareholder.

      If your government doesn't do that, get rid of it and get a new one. That's their job. That's what they're there for. If my employee doesn't do his job, I kick him out and hire someone who does.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Solution by Arnold+Reinhold · · Score: 1

      When you call 911 or the equivalent, your phone should have the ability to respond using voice synthesis to queries from emergency services, sent using two or three digit touch-tone signals. The queries could include your GPS location and other information you supply, such as the floor you are usually on, apartment or office number, car make and model, chronic diseases, meds, allergies, and real time info, if available, from FitBits and the like. Maybe even a query for number and types of pets (that would be a big seller). Apple and Google could agree on a list of query codes and incorporate the feature in iOS and Android, with an opt-out for the paranoid. Since Touch-tone key pads are built into many phones and easily added if not, there would be no need for 911 call centers to update their technology, which can take decades, just have the code list handy. This is an easy fix.

    6. Re:Solution by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      If people don't use the app to make the call, have the app load a visual interface when they make a 911 call, and give it the option to send location only when the caller hits "send location" instead of sending it automatically. As you've noted, people are less paranoid about distributing their identifying data if they feel like they have control over it being transmitted.

    7. Re:Solution by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Write an app that transmits your location when 911 is being called

      Android has had ESL baked into it since version 2.3 which does precisely that. 99% chance that if you have an Android device and are calling in a country where emergency services support AML, you're already covered.

      The USA is not such a country.

    8. Re:Solution by worf_mo · · Score: 1

      The regional "emergency and urgency department" of Lombardia has developed an app called 112 Where Are U. This app is available (for free) for iOS and Android devices, works in a large number of Italian regions, and once installed on your smartphone it allows you to call 112 (the European Emergency Number) and send location information and additional data if available. This app can also be used when the caller cannot talk. I have heard of people that were saved out of bad situations thanks to the precise location information sent to first responders/police. And I'd have no hesitation to use this app if necessary.

  7. Cause 911 fee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I paid doesn't cover it? How about divert all the phone tax fee go toward upgrading the system?

  8. Uber should fix it by Kohath · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Launch a new service Uber EMT. They could get there faster. And there would be less chance the cops would show up with them to shoot your dogs.

    1. Re:Uber should fix it by AntronArgaiv · · Score: 1

      Launch a new service Uber EMT. They could get there faster. And there would be less chance the cops would show up with them to shoot your dogs.

      ...and while they're at it, better looking ambulance attendants.

      Perhaps a new phone number that's easier to remember...like 0118-999-88199-9119-725....3?

    2. Re:Uber should fix it by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Perhaps a new phone number that's easier to remember...like 0118-999-88199-9119-725....3?

      Phone number? Are you 75 years old? The "phone number" would be Siri, Call Uber EMT. I broke my ankle.

    3. Re:Uber should fix it by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Shouldn't it be

      Phone number? Are you 75 years old? The "phone number" would be Siri, Call Uber EMT. I've had a bit of a tumble.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Uber should fix it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now I have that damed jingle running through my head and IT Crowd s out everything else.

    5. Re:Uber should fix it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or... "I've fallen and I can't get up"

    6. Re:Uber should fix it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had a bit of a tumble is a reference to the 0118-999-88199-9119-725....3 phone number.

  9. Re:Because by Miles_O'Toole · · Score: 1

    CEO's get bonuses regardless of whether their jobs get done. When they don't, they face zero consequences.

    Fixed that for you!

    --
    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
  10. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  11. 911 in a sad state of affairs by quetwo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I used to install 911 systems. The biggest problem is the RBOCs (phone companies). They've refused to upgrade their systems to allow any meaningful data to directly reach their systems. Many 911 systems out there today rely on old analog connections that can't carry enhanced data except for caller-id. The 911 systems simply use the caller-id to match a location.

    Want to know how cell phones work when you call 911?

    The user dials the number associated with emergency services on their phone. The phone gets handed to the cell company. At the same time, the GPS unit is activated on the phone and the phone attempts to get a lock. GPS information is sent to the cell company emergency services "smart router".

    Meanwhile, the call gets routed to the PSAP. It uses the address of the closest tower to find out which correct PSAP is supposed to answer. The PSAP answers and gets connected to an operator. There, they are given the location of the antenna/tower that the user called through. SOME cell providers offer a link (depending on the software they are using) to get additional information about the call, which often requires pulling up seperate software and/or a website to get the location from the smart router. The location /may/ be updating in real time, or it may not be. I've seen many cases where the GPS didn't get a lock at first and the location pulled up in the smart router never gets updated beyond that. Oh, and if you use a cell company that hasn't directly partnered with your local PSAP, the operator may only get the street address of the closest tower.

    The phone companies have the technology to make this work, and make it work well. It would require the RBOCs to upgrade their networks a bit and provide advanced services to the 911 centers. It would also require the police, phone companies and 911 centers to want to work together and do things the right way. Right now there are a lot of people who think their technology is right and that everybody else should just simply use it. What ends up is that we have a bunch of different software, all cobbled together in ways that make the system really, really bad.

    Consumers tend to like apps as the solution to get to 911 services. Sure, they can get advanced services (like a real GPS location), and other nice things, but it relies on a bunch of technologies that are designed to work "at best effort". If you don't have data service and you launch the app, it won't work. If you call 911 and don't have phone service, your phone will actually roam to anybody and everybody's network you have a radio for and place the call.

    1. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 0

      At the same time, the GPS unit is activated on the phone and the phone attempts to get a lock.
      No, the cell towers you are connected to triangulate on you.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by infolation · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Forcing mobile handsets to use GPS for 911 calls was supposed to have been enshrined in US law since 1996 (The E911 program). But...

      In 1996, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order requiring wireless carriers to determine and transmit the location of callers who dial 9-1-1. The FCC set up a phased program: Phase I involved sending the location of the receiving antenna for 9-1-1 calls, while Phase II sends the location of the calling telephone. Carriers were allowed to choose to implement 'handset based' location by Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar technology in each phone, or 'network based' location by means of triangulation between cell towers. The order set technical and accuracy requirements: carriers using 'handset based' technology must report handset location within 50 meters for 67% of calls, and within 150 meters for 90% of calls; carriers using 'network based' technology must report location within 100 meters for 67% of calls and 300 meters for 90% of calls.

      The order also laid out milestones for implementing wireless location services. Many carriers requested waivers of the milestones, and the FCC granted many of them. By mid-2005, implementation of Phase II was generally underway, limited by the complexity of coordination required from wireless and wireline carriers, PSAPs, and other affected government agencies; and by the limited funding available to local agencies which needed to convert PSAP equipment to display location data (usually on computerized maps).

      In July 2011, the FCC announced a proposed rule requiring that after an eight-year implementation period, at some yet-to-be-determined date in 2019, wireless carriers will be required to meet more stringent location accuracy requirements. If enacted, this rule would require both "handset based" and "network based" location techniques to meet the same accuracy standard, regardless of the underlying technology used. The rule is likely to have no effect as all major carriers will have already achieved over 85% GPS chipset penetration, and are thus able to meet the standard regardless of their 'network based' location capabilities.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    3. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      At the same time, the GPS unit is activated on the phone and the phone attempts to get a lock.
      No, the cell towers you are connected to triangulate on you.

      Both of you are correct. If the phone has GPS capability, there is an "assisted GPS" hybrid mode that will, at the very least, provide your current triangulated location using the nearest towers, and then provide a more accurate GPS location if available.

    4. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      At the same time, the GPS unit is activated on the phone and the phone attempts to get a lock. No, the cell towers you are connected to triangulate on you.

      At that point I'd be better off with what3words...
      https://map.what3words.com/
      Maybe get Siri to look up your current 3words and read them to the 911 operator...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    5. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I support PBXes for 911 PSAPs for a living and this guy is 100% correct.

    6. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by shess · · Score: 1

      Consumers tend to like apps as the solution to get to 911 services. Sure, they can get advanced services (like a real GPS location), and other nice things, but it relies on a bunch of technologies that are designed to work "at best effort". If you don't have data service and you launch the app, it won't work. If you call 911 and don't have phone service, your phone will actually roam to anybody and everybody's network you have a radio for and place the call.

      The app could whistle like a modem over the voice channel. Or use morse code. Or some clever steganographic solution to weave the data into the audio stream, interleaved to pass the highest bits first.

    7. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The method depends on the cell company and what technology they use. Both GPS and triangulation are allowed in the rules.

    8. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have a button on phone dialers to send GPS location within the audio of the call. Stop making this such a hard problem. You solve it with open standards, not by forcing.

    9. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems like another enhancement to E911 would be for the phone to keep transmitting its location for the next 30min to an hour after a 911 call. This would give 1st responders data they could use you locate you if you have moved since the call was made because the location was not safe, or if you were kiddnapped.

      That time period seems reasonable to have an always on tracking going on with your phone. If 1st responders have't located you by then, your changes are likely pretty slim if you have a true emergency that needed EMS.

    10. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by McFortner · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Meanwhile, the call gets routed to the PSAP. It uses the address of the closest tower to find out which correct PSAP is supposed to answer.

      Having worked 911 for 8 years, I can vouch for this. And you have no idea how PISSED people get when they get connected to the wrong 911 center and have to be transferred to another one. I worked for a county 911 center here in the Atlanta Metropolitan area and the centers here (when I worked there) were only connected to the surrounding centers. I actually had to relay through THREE centers to get them to the correct PSAP, either through a really long distance connection or the cell phone tower misrouting the call.

      I am so glad I don't have to put up with that anymore. It was hell enough a lot of times when it was had to be transferred to the next county over. And if there was a major accident on the Interstate the phone lines would go crazy.

      --
      Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
    11. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to install 911 systems. The biggest problem is the RBOCs (phone companies). They've refused to upgrade their systems to allow any meaningful data to directly reach their systems. Many 911 systems out there today rely on old analog connections that can't carry enhanced data except for caller-id. The 911 systems simply use the caller-id to match a location.

      If caller ID is the best 911 systems have, why don't the phones just push the GPS coordinates (when available) via caller ID when dialing 911? If nothing else, at least that way you could just have some software parse out and feed it into Google.

    12. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by jonwil · · Score: 2

      It seems like the wireless carriers have got it right in terms of collecting E911 information (assuming phones have the E911 GPS capability in them) and moving it through their network and the big problems are with fixed line carriers who are unwilling to spend the money needed to upgrade their networks so they can get that E911 data through to the 911 call centres.

    13. Re:911 in a sad state of affairs by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The biggest problem is the RBOCs (phone companies). They've refused to upgrade their systems to allow any meaningful data to directly reach their systems

      An approach which uses SMS (such as the systems being adopted in Europe and supported in Android since version 2.3) would have left them entirely out of the equation.

  12. Because two different systems are used by houghi · · Score: 1

    With FB and all the rest it is the Phone/Customer that send the information. With a cellphone call, it is the provider that sends the information.

    Also not that if you are unwilling to send the info, you can turn it of. If the provider is sending the information, you are unable to turn it of, regardless of the reason.

    And you can bet they will then also be starting to ask for the data to be given freely with non 911 calls.

    So yeah, these are apples and oranges.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re: Because two different systems are used by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      User cannot disable e911 location services on your cell phone.

      For example, if you use Verizon, your phone will try to get a GPS fix, even if you have otherwise turned off GPS on your phone.

      Now, whether that info actually gets from the carrier though to the actual dispatcher seems a different matter.

      the telco provider that has the regional 911 PSAT contract is trying to milk that contract, like all of its government service contracts, for all it is worth. Sensible-to-you-or-me upgrades or enhancements are not done unless they're negotiated on a time-and-materials or cost-plus basis.
      And that's before you get into any details regarding the more local dispatch centers.

  13. There are reasons for this by wonkavader · · Score: 4, Informative

    Telco equipment can be very modern (imagine a single rack of DC-powered commodity blade computers with OC3's coming in the back, taking just 30 inches of rack space to handle thousands of lines) or very old (imagine rows of racks, mostly empty with each line handles by four twisted wires going to a large, sparsely populated board featuring, I am not making this up, Zilog Z-80 SIO chips -- depending on the age other the boards they may feature other SIO chips -- remember your phone call is just a stream of 64kbps 8 bit data at the switch level). A technical change which requires anything different from how things currently work is easy on the new stuff, but impossible on the old stuff and obsoleting the old stuff would put some smaller telcos out of business.

    The current 911 model (at least in the midwest) is a database with the phone number as the index key. This doesn't get seen/used at all from the person-to-switch level. There's NO meta-information. The rows and rows of ancient equipment do feed into one rack of slightly more modern stuff which can actually use a DB to look up info when the call is to the number 911. That looks in the DB to figure out what call center to send the call to. The call center can then look up that same record when the call comes to them based on caller-id.

    That's why you don't get magical data-passing about location. It would be trivial to do, but everything would have to be modern.

    Now, let's just talk about that database for a moment. I haven't looked at it in five years, but last I checked, it was a colossal pile of crap, filled with misspellings, illogical data, non-contained overlaps, etc. This has been the case since day one, and has never been improved. This means you need to have humans make a judgement call on where an address should actually be whenever a new person gets a land-line. If you get someone else's old phone number, it could be bound to the wrong address. A more likely situation would be that your 911 call would be routed to the wrong emergency call center, which either causes a scramble to reroute your call or a long drive from the wrong firestation. There's automatic checking to make sure someone signs off on your 911 info, but no checking to make sure it's right.

  14. FUD that costs lives by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because at the end of the day I can uninstall Uber but once the government mandates phone tracking for safety they'll know where you are forever for whatever reason they want.

    They don't have to track your phone unless you dial 911. This is baseless FUD. Uber doesn't need your location unless you call for Uber. It is a trivial exercise to prevent either Uber or the government from receiving location data unless you contact.

    If the government starts proposing a law to track you at all times then by all means get worked up about it. (yes that includes the NSA) That's a very different discussion. If I'm calling 911 I WANT them to have an accurate fix on my location. This should be a non issue. Fears about government overreach in this case are misplaced and demonstrably costs lives.

    1. Re:FUD that costs lives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      They don't have to track your phone unless you dial 911.

      They don't have to, but based on past behavior, they will.

      If the government starts proposing a law to track you at all times then by all means get worked up about it. (yes that includes the NSA)

      What makes you think the NSA or any of the other three-letter agencies will bother with a law? Based on past behavior, they do whatever the hell they want whenever they want. If they get caught, they wave their hands and spout all kinds of "because terr'ists" and "think of the children" nonsense and the huddled masses nod, bleat and move along.

    2. Re:FUD that costs lives by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

      Uber and Lyft get your location information, tied to your cell phone, when you look at the map to get the price of the ride. This is _before_ you order anything. They may protect it via anonymizing their records, but it _is_ tired to your individual cell phone client installation. So is information about access points near your cell phone, if you have wi-fi enabled, since that's one of the technologies used to enhance your location information.

      > If the government starts proposing a law to track you at all times then by all means get worked up about it.

      I'd like to point out the "First they came" message, about creeping government power and abuses?

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/......

    3. Re:FUD that costs lives by Barsteward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i think i'd prefer the 911 services to get to me earlier than later, after all its just a location request.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    4. Re:FUD that costs lives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about we make the phone software only send the information if 911 is dialed.

    5. Re:FUD that costs lives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the problem is with android apps... they run in the background and you don't really know what they do... are you really going to go enable the location permission for the uber app everytime you "call" uber, and turn off that permission after every "call"? It's not really that trivial...

    6. Re:FUD that costs lives by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      They don't have to track your phone unless you dial 911.

      Quite so. They don't HAVE to. Which isn't really the question. The question is "will they?".

      Oh, and that question must be asked of every administration, Federal, State, and possibly Local till the end of time....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    7. Re:FUD that costs lives by Dorianny · · Score: 0

      Because at the end of the day I can uninstall Uber but once the government mandates phone tracking for safety they'll know where you are forever for whatever reason they want.

      They don't have to track your phone unless you dial 911. This is baseless FUD. Uber doesn't need your location unless you call for Uber. It is a trivial exercise to prevent either Uber or the government from receiving location data unless you contact.

      If the government starts proposing a law to track you at all times then by all means get worked up about it. (yes that includes the NSA) That's a very different discussion. If I'm calling 911 I WANT them to have an accurate fix on my location. This should be a non issue. Fears about government overreach in this case are misplaced and demonstrably costs lives.

      First. Any law mandating gps use for e911 would most certainly make it illegal to have a turn-off option. Unlike Uber, Government can do that. If you think I'm just being paranoid, try and find an option to block Presidental alert level notifications on any phone.

      Second. Do you really believe that once the capability is in place, DHS will not go to a FISA court to request sealed warrants for location tracking using the system? Even local PD gets triangulation warrants nowdays

    8. Re: FUD that costs lives by houghi · · Score: 1

      They still wave their hand? Last few tomes they just used their middle finger.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    9. Re:FUD that costs lives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, I'm sorry you haven't been keeping up on the government. They do all sorts of things they aren't allowed to, and then build elaborate alternative narratives on where they got the information to screw you. The only thing determining what the government does is "are they technically capable of doing so". That's it. No policy, no laws, no moral limitations figure in at an time before "OK, now how do we rebuild this case without illegal stuff so we can lie to the legal system?"

    10. Re:FUD that costs lives by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      They don't have to track your phone unless you dial 911. This is baseless FUD.

      Well before you grab your pitchforks and torches against the pro-privacy crowd because you're just thinking about the children, consider the mechanism with which uber (and other apps) get location data vs how e911 does (as per fcc rules.) E911 stipulates that the carrier (using A-GPS) and the handset itself provide the GPS data they have to 911. This normally comes from the baseband that operates separately from the phone OS. Smartphones like Android (and as of recently, Apple as well) get more accurate data by keeping big private databases of WiFI AP's locations, and then they look at the relative signal strength of these APs to get a faster, more accurate fix than A-GPS and GPS combined.

      THAT is how uber finds you, and 911 doesn't. This creates a few stipulations:

      - Smartphone OSes without the sheer number of devices in the field recording this data are SOL
      - Rural users with few APs are SOL
      - If the OS has to start injecting location data into the baseband, that opens a can of worms (think carriers are ALREADY bad about slowing updates? Now imagine if the FCC has to stick their hands in it as well -- say goodbye to rooting and roms for good while you're at it.)
      - Some people may not like the government knowing where their wifi AP is (and yes, there are a few ways to opt out, some easy but not foolprooof, and some very foolproof and very technical) so does this mean that not only do Google and Apple have to turn over this data to the public so that everybody gets equal access, but your WIFI AP location is now a matter of public record, and doing anything to stop it from being so becomes illegal?

      Better solution, IMO, is to upgrade GPS (at least within the US) to be more suitable to this application that it was never designed for in the first place. Since GPS is run by the DoD, just put it in the defense budget.

      But either way, it's not unreasonable to be hesitant about providing a quick fix for this just because "think of the children!"

    11. Re:FUD that costs lives by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      How about we make the phone software only send the information if 911 is dialed.

      That would work, yes.

      But ... the government will want more than that because terrorists and babies.

      --
      No sig today...
    12. Re:FUD that costs lives by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      What makes you think the NSA or any of the other three-letter agencies will bother with a law?

      What makes you think they require telling you it's for 911 tracking before installing the software?

      The fascinating thing about all the conspiracy theories regarding TLAs is the assumption that they need some excuse to install the software or hardware. If the conspiracy is true, they aren't going to be asking permission or telling you that they are doing it.

    13. Re:FUD that costs lives by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

      I'd like to point out the "First they came" message, about creeping government power and abuses?

      Why do you believe that a nefarious government agency out to track all citizens would require notifying you or a law to install their software?

      If they truly are that bad, they aren't going to get a law passed. They're just going to install it, without any prompting on the phone so you have no idea it is there.

      Your claim requires believing that they are super-competent and evil, and also so bumbling and incompetent that they need a law and the public discussion surrounding that law. They can't be both super-competent and incompetent at the same time.

    14. Re:FUD that costs lives by pots · · Score: 1

      Uber doesn't need your location unless you call for Uber. It is a trivial exercise to prevent either Uber or the government from receiving location data unless you contact.

      You mean hypothetically, right? Because while Uber certainly doesn't need my location unless they contact them, they're collecting it all the time anyway. Preventing this is not trivial. I can put a firewall on my phone (and I have), but at some point the Uber software need to send data to Uber in order to function. There is nothing currently stopping them from collecting data all the time, and sending it when they connect.

    15. Re:FUD that costs lives by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > Why do you believe that a nefarious government agency out to track all citizens would require notifying you or a law to install their software?

      The US certaomlyhas nefarious organizations who do install illegal monitoring software as a matter of course. The word "require" that you've used is an important distinction. The FCC could require such tracking tools as a matter of course to approve cell phones for use in the USA. The "nefarious agencies" could require that not only do 911 calls have data recorded and turned over without a court order, but that the location and owner information of telephones _near_ the 911 call be made available to them, automatically, without a court order.

      The range of potential abuses of automatically recorded location information is large, and the potential already inherent. It would be very reasonable to think cautiously about the consequences and legal limitations _before_ investing in the technology and design changes.

    16. Re:FUD that costs lives by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'd like to point out the "First they came" message, about creeping government power and abuses?

      I would like to point out "First they came" messages too. But if they can't find you then they can't come and you die in the bottom of a pit.

      Sorry but some government power is a basic requirement in a functional society. To pretend otherwise is to want to live entirely without government and the result of that is anarchy.

    17. Re:FUD that costs lives by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Again, why would they go through the public rulemaking/lawmaking if they wanted to nefariously track people? They'd just do it.

    18. Re:FUD that costs lives by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > Again, why would they go through the public rulemaking/lawmaking if they wanted to nefariously track people?

      Expense and scale. If the monitoring is already built in, they can use it wholesale as a matter of course, rather than exert the effort to harvest any particular device's data. We see this today with the FBI's objections to iPhone security.

    19. Re:FUD that costs lives by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If the government starts proposing a law to track you at all times then by all means get worked up about it. (yes that includes the NSA)

      With or without a law or special software, they track you.

      Guys, the very nature of a cell phone means that its position is always known to the telephone system, which is eager to hand over data on you to the proper or improper authorities. If you want to go somewhere and not let the FBI or NSA know where you're going, leave your cell phone at home. Whether they can track you by cell tower or GPS is almost irrelevant.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  15. They can if they have phase II by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    If they have e-911, phase II on the PSAP, it's easier to locate.

    1. Re:They can if they have phase II by YoopDaDum · · Score: 1

      Yes. Any phone supporting VoLTE (voice over LTE) MUST support e-911. The location is sent when establishing an emergency call, typically using A-GPS (but there are fallbacks like OTDOA, which is pure cellular). Verifying that a phone properly supports this is part of the required cellular certification, you simply can't sell a phone that wouldn't support this. So I guess the issue is more in the interfacing between the telcos and the 911 infrastructure.

    2. Re:They can if they have phase II by yogibeaty · · Score: 1

      E911 routes to a regional call center. If it had been routed to a more local location, my step-son would likely be still alive, as his son was still on the phone with dispatch, but dispatch apparently had no idea where Culver City actually is, and had no idea how to direct the ambulance/police to his apartment.

  16. Solution, updated by Imazalil · · Score: 1

    To build on yours:
    1) Just create a new fake advertising agency and have it buy it's way into full access to facebook, twitter, and other social media.
    2) Get access via whichever 3-letter agency has full open access, just use the usual "for the children" and all that.

    1. Re:Solution, updated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the hell do you think they need step 1? Does it help you sleep at night? All they need to do is get into your OS and they forever have your location. What, did you think your OS was programmed by robots or aomething? Or maleable squishy humans that can be turned? I never remember smartphone OS developers having any sort of canary, did you?

  17. Because 911 doesn't track me 24/7 by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    Wasn't Uber recently taken to court for tracking its users even after they closed the app? Maybe 9/11 needs an app that people can optionally download to be tracked 24/7. They'd have less trouble locating you that way.

  18. I'm quite stupid but... by franzrogar · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't be easier to force all "Call Apps" to send GPS/"I'm here" alongside with the Phone Number only (for privacy) when calling 991/112 ?

    1. Re:I'm quite stupid but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ^ This. Best solution. Maybe not all apps, but only the builtin phone app should send GPS info to a web server set up by the 911 authorities.

    2. Re:I'm quite stupid but... by rjstanford · · Score: 2

      Sure, in fact that already works today. And as soon as all 911 offices and intermediate phone switches can accept and pass along that information, this problem will be fixed. Until then, however...

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
  19. Because Americans won't spend by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On infrastructure. We just took on $1.5 trillion in debt to do a bunch of tax cuts. If we want these things we have to pay for them.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Because Americans won't spend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On infrastructure. We just took on $1.5 trillion in debt to do a bunch of tax cuts. If we want these things we have to pay for them.

      About 2/3 of the US government budget is direct payments to individuals.

      US taxpayers don't want any higher taxes. "Tax freedom day" - the day in the year when, on average, a US person has made enough money to pay the years taxes - has moved from about Jan 20 to about May 1 in the past century, to the point where an average US person pays more on taxes than on food, clothing, and housing.

    2. Re:Because Americans won't spend by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      The Federal government also just (yet again!) took in record levels of revenue. Of course, it also still spends more than ever. You may notice from those charts the tremendous increase in government revenue per person over time... and the even larger increase in government spending per person over the same time period.

      "If we want these things, we have to be willing to spend less on other stuff we don't need."

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    3. Re:Because Americans won't spend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People in the US are the heaviest taxed people in the world. Yes. The. Entire. World. Especially when you factor the failed Obamacare as part of the tax process, adding thousands of dollars a month, even if someone is below the poverty level. In fact, even if someone makes $0, they still owe premiums, making the US the only country that taxes people who have zero money, forcing them to face fines, and eventual prison time.

      It is great that we have Libertarian leadership that understands that, and has made strides to lower the tax burden on us proles. I'm hoping boondoggles like Social Security (the gravy train for those who happened to be born before 1966, and a Ponzi system for those born later) and Medicare (government shouldn't be in health care) are handed over to the private sector, which knows what they are doing... or just tossed completely.

    4. Re:Because Americans won't spend by jbengt · · Score: 1

      Almost everything stated above by AC is wrong, and AC apparently doesn't know the difference between Pay-As-You-Go and a Ponzi scheme. (Not that SS was supposed to be entirely Pay-As-You-Go - SS "invested" in US Treasury bonds, as they were required to do by Congress. Unfortunately, the US probably won't be able to pay off all of their bonds unless inflation heats up significantly.)

    5. Re:Because Americans won't spend by jbengt · · Score: 1

      Try looking at those government revenue and spending charts in percent of GDP rather than dollars per capita. They've been relatively flat since WW2.

    6. Re:Because Americans won't spend by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      1. Even then, they aren't "relatively flat" and compared to each other, spending still increases much faster.
      2. Using as a percent of GDP makes no sense. There isn't much reason for government spending to increase "as a percent of GDP", government spending is what the "G" in GDP represents. So you want to measure it as in part a percent of itself? Why use such a silly reference when you can just look at it in constant dollars, or do a direct comparison between spending and revenue? The only reason people us percent of GDP is either because they saw someone else do it and didn't stop to think about it, or else they're trying to hide the increases by dividing it by another number which grows.

      It makes sense to allow for government to increase as the population it governs increases, you might even stretch and say that as we become wealthier we tend to spend more money on things we didn't before (such as increased government), but that's an attempt at a partial explanation for why we're spending more (and doesn't explain the difference in spending more vs paying more), not something to use to hide the reality that we are in fact spending way more per person in constant dollars.

      P.S. The parts of the federal budget with the most growth (Defense and entitlements) aren't pieces which have a direct connection to DP (minus the G), so it's not even a great explanation for reasons behind the increase, either.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
  20. Because the FCC screwed up the requirements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The underlying problem is https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_pub... . As best I can tell, those were the new standards for E911 location precision from 2015, which completely screwed up the working E911 system by requiring more precision than was physically possible with the existing, stable system from TruePosition, in use by most cell phone vendors. That system involved bolting hardware onto the cell phone towers, hardware that worked pretty well. They had a nice display of the system that survived the 9/11 bombings and helped provide location date to rescuers, including people who were underground in places with the doors covered with rubble.

    Sadly, the updated regulations required even more accuracy. The cell phone companies are now pursuing "evaluation" projects for independent systems, none of which work. And Trueposition is *gone*. They got absorbed into a locaiton company called Skyhook, but kept their old management that failed to keep them intact. They're supporting only a few legacy systems E911 systems, and have since had two rounds of layoffs.

    It should be possible to use other location systems, such as Skyhook's or Google maps or iPhone recovery tools to make some working location services for E911. Even Wayz would be a starting point. Getting the companies to play well with the data, or allow sharing of that data just for emergency services, is a software integration problem and an ethical morass due to privacy concerns.

  21. Re:Because by Kohath · · Score: 1

    And if you aren't satisfied with your CEO performance, you stop buying his product. If you aren't satisfied with your government performance, then fuck you, pay your taxes anyway.

  22. remebmer when... by dAzED1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Remember when Slashdot was a place for people slightly more tech saavy than the average? Bloody hell, my elderly relatives understand the answer to this question - it's pretty simple really. The answer is "because Uber and 911 don't communicate the same way." Another fun question to ask is why is it possible for me to mail a feather to someone via USPS, but there's no place to put a feather on my cell phone to sext it to my wife for kinky-time. The possibilities are endless, when you compare completely different things that work in completely different ways! Why can my stove cook food, but my iphone can't? Why does my dog bark, instead of doing my taxes? The second biggest reason is 911 isn't consistent...I'd say "standardized" but there is a standard available, it's just not overwhelmingly used. Check out John Oliver's segment on this like 2 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    1. Re:remebmer when... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... it's just not overwhelmingly used.

      Aaaaaand there's the problem: Congress has just exempted rich people (ie. corporations) from obeying the law, again. Do you think US tel-cos are on-schedule to meet the not-quite-decided 2019 deadline? I suspect, that after 8 years of notice, corporations will demand the deadline will be moved to a later year.

    2. Re:remebmer when... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Remember when Slashdot was a place for people slightly more tech saavy than the average? Bloody hell, my elderly relatives understand the answer to this question - it's pretty simple really. The answer is "because Uber and 911 don't communicate the same way."

      Not communicating the same way does not mean that the relevant information can't be communicated. Phone systems have supported the ability to send data via a side channel since the 90s, a short message service of sorts. This SMS thing is exactly what is used in some European countries to send GPS data during 112 calls.

      The only question remaining is why the USA hasn't adopted something that should have been possible since the 90s.

  23. There is no government overreach by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Uber and Lyft get your location information, tied to your cell phone, when you look at the map to get the price of the ride.

    So they get your location when you use their app which you have to explicitly allow. I fail to see the problem. It is trivial to restrict 911 services to not worrying about your location unless you dial 911. Stop looking for problems where they don't exist.

    I'd like to point out the "First they came" message, about creeping government power and abuses?

    Knock yourself out but if that is the basis of your argument against good location identification for 911 then you have no argument. Worse you are arguing that people should die because you have a hypothetical concern about 911 location information being used for something other than an emergency response despite there being no evidence that such activity is or will occur. Seriously take off the tinfoil hat. There are plenty of places to worry about government overreach. This is clearly not one of them.

    I pray you don't have a heart attack and need 911 tell first responders how to find you in a hurry.

    1. Re:There is no government overreach by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      I pray you don't have a heart attack and need 911 tell first responders how to find you in a hurry.

      "pray", yep that tells me a lot.

      How about it's voluntary. You can download and install "Official government tracking app" if you want.

      That way you'll be safe, OK?

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:There is no government overreach by mrsquid0 · · Score: 1

      You may wish to read up on the concept of a straw man argument.

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
  24. Blood on your hands by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They don't have to, but based on past behavior, they will.

    Take off the tinfoil hat please.

    What makes you think the NSA or any of the other three-letter agencies will bother with a law?

    So we're supposed to live with shitty 911 service because you are paranoid about the NSA breaking the law? Newsflash dummy, they can already track your phone so all you are doing is costing lives to improve NOTHING. You aren't improving your privacy by slowing first responders. If the NSA wants to break the law, handicapping 911 service won't stop them from watching you legally or illegally. It just means a guy having a heart attack will die when he didn't have to.

    1. Re:Blood on your hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They don't have to, but based on past behavior, they will.

      Take off the tinfoil hat please.

      Was a fine response before June 2013. Since then we've had the Snowden release, agency heads lying before congress with no conseqences, FBI trying to force Apple to insecure its devices....

    2. Re:Blood on your hands by Barsteward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      so do you prefer for ambulances/fire brigades/police not to be able to find you in an emergency?

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    3. Re:Blood on your hands by plague911 · · Score: 3, Funny
      "So we're supposed to live with shitty 911 service because you are paranoid about the NSA breaking the law? Newsflash dummy, they can already track your phone so all you are doing is costing lives to improve NOTHING."

      I agree 100%. Their statement is we cant do "A" because they declare "If A then B" and their their justification for their declaration is because they think "B" is already true. This is asinine

      Sometimes I wonder how these conservative retards can take a break from smearing their own feces all themselves and manage to actually log in here and type.

    4. Re:Blood on your hands by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      so do you prefer for ambulances/fire brigades/police not to be able to find your child in an emergency? won't somebody please think of the children!!!

      Same argument, different privacy vs safety topic.

    5. Re:Blood on your hands by Joce640k · · Score: 0

      How about a compromise?

      How about the US gov. makes an official tracking app available for download on the app store. You can install it and it'll send your exact location to them at all times to make you safer.

      ie. It's voluntary.

      --
      No sig today...
    6. Re:Blood on your hands by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklyn.

      --
      No sig today...
    7. Re:Blood on your hands by mrsquid0 · · Score: 2

      A good example of a quote that is often used completely out of context.

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
    8. Re: Blood on your hands by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Expressing concern about privacy is a conservative thing these days? May as well be, after all it seems free speech has already become one as well.

      Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to trigger you.

    9. Re:Blood on your hands by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      really? its just a one off location request on a phone call.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    10. Re:Blood on your hands by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      no, thats a potential privacy nightmare - just make it so 911 get a location once when the call is made or in progress. No need to hold onto anymore data.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    11. Re: Blood on your hands by plague911 · · Score: 1

      No but making laughably illogical statements is.

    12. Re: Blood on your hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He who trades the liberty of his current gps coordinates, for the security of paramedics coming to save his life, deserves neither, said Ben Franklin, probably.
      By your logic, you should even tell your location to 911 operators, or you deserve to die.
      "911 help me I'm dying! No, I won't tell you my address, the NSA is spying on my call! No, I won't tell you where the pain is, that's personal medical details! Why do you hate freedom 911?"

  25. Re:Because by Miles_O'Toole · · Score: 2

    Yeah, that works so well in the many, many cases where there is no real choice.

    Thanks for the laugh, though. Much appreciated.

    --
    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
  26. Uber doesn't send out SWAT teams and kill you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would you want a government to be able to find you?

    Like it always does, the government will use that against you.

  27. Because 911 has to work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    911 operates the way it does because it's mission is something different from Uber and other location based services. 911 is required to handle any phone ever invented and have it connect, every time, to a 911 center. It doesn't matter if Alexander Graham Bell picks up his telephone or a hipster on his iPhone X does. It has to work. It has to work regardless of weather conditions, satellite coverage, or natural disaster.

    For that kind of reliability across all platforms, you can't have the latest and greatest location services. With the current E911, centers can pinpoint your location to about 20 meters, which for all intents and purposes is all you need. With Next Gen 911, which is currently under development, we will have enhanced location services as well as be able to accept video calls and pictures. But it will also be backwards compatible with older style phones.

  28. Could it also be.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that you go out to meet Uber vs. emergency services have to come find you. Imagine how this might work in high rise buildings.

  29. There's an app for that by ruddk · · Score: 1

    Here in Denmark, we have an app for that, http://www.112app.dk/ (sorry don't think there's an english version)

    When you install it, there's (IIRC), you have to add your phone number though, so I assume they send the phone number along with GPS coordinates when you run the app via the data connection and then it just uses the regular phone for calling.
    I have used it once, and they did get the exact location and were able to send ambulances to the accident, which made it easier because I only roughly knew where I was, like the approximate distance to city I was driving to and where I was coming from, but not the name of the road.
    The operator did say that it was not always that it worked.

  30. WTF is going on? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought there was a law saying we have to have GPS in our phone so 911 can find us? I had to buy a new phone several years ago because of it. What the fuck is going on?

    1. Re: WTF is going on? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not all 911 centers can use this data...

  31. The answer is simple by kenh · · Score: 1

    The 911 system was put in place before cell phones included GPS locators, and to retrofit the system with a new capability would be quite expensive. Any idea how many 911 call centers there are across America? 5,783

    According to a 911 industry group:

    99.4% of PSAPs have some Phase I
    99.0% of PSAPs have some Phase II

    Phase I - Cellphone carrier provides caller's number and cell tower calculated location
    Phase II - Cellphone carrier provides caller's number and cellphone calculated location

    Shockingly, this isn't nearly the "crisis issue" the click-bait headline would have you believe, and it is actually being implemented today.

    U.S. regulators estimate as many as 10,000 lives could be saved each year if the 911 emergency dispatching system were able to get to callers one minute faster.

    Are they really asserting that as many as 10,000 deaths per year because first-responders got to the location up to 60 seconds too late? That seems a bit fantastical, and the reader is supposed to assume that the issue is that first-responders got lost on the way to the location and it has nothing to do with traffic between the first responder and the victim, delays calling 911 as helpful neighbors try and help rather than call 911, etc.

    --
    Ken
  32. Some actual facts, if you are interested by kenh · · Score: 1

    See here to learn that 99% of 911 call centers are capable of handling cellphone-generated GPS locations, but it relies on carrier upgrades outside their direct control.

    Or, you know, take the bait, assume the 911 system has remained stagnant for the last two decades, and feign false outrage over this non-issue.

    --
    Ken
  33. Have You Tried Calling 911? by nick_davison · · Score: 1, Interesting

    From my experience in San Diego:

    Usually, if you call 911, youâ(TM)ll sit on hold for three or four minutes.

    When you do get through, if youâ(TM)re calling for something as trivial as thieves returning to your house while your wife is there alone, donâ(TM)t be so inconsiderate as to call while itâ(TM)s raining or theyâ(TM)ll tell you theyâ(TM)re not going to dispatch someone until after the rain stops and your wife should just leave the house. No. Seriously. SDPD pulled that shit.

    If you call back because youâ(TM)re seriously concerned about her safety, once youâ(TM)re done holding again, expect to be told to stop calling 911 for something as trivial as a potential home invasion.

    Donâ(TM)t be surprised when you can drive the 80+ miles back from Orange County and still be there an hour before the police show up after the rain stops.

    The police are a revenue generation service for cities. They do not serve. They do not protect.

    Itâ(TM)s not a racist thing. They donâ(TM)t care about you, regardless of your skin color.

    Having phones tell them where you are and get them to you a minute faster changes a two hour response to an hour and fifty nine minutes. The criminals will be long gone, regardless.

    Mind you, it might help for ambulances, once you get past the lousy 911 hold times.

    1. Re: Have You Tried Calling 911? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry about your experience but this is more of a Calif or SoCal thing.Not the way it happens here. Now you call in a noise complaint w/o weapons or threats of violence involved I might wait half a duty shift to get a car rolled up.

  34. Time to contract it out... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because private companies are far better with data, why isn't 911 contracted out? The government sucks at running things in general, so having it moved to a private company which tends to be far, far better with keeping up with the times is a good thing. The Tenth Amendment shows that it isn't government's job to run stuff like that, and it should be left in the capable hands of the private sector.

    Uber needs to be handed access to e911 info on towers. If it saves lives and cuts government waste, it is worth it.

  35. Coventry by PPH · · Score: 1

    How do you know they can't locate you? I listen to our local police investigations units on my scanner. And they can track a suspect ('s phone) to a particular location in a parking lot in real time. I suspect that they are letting a few innocent people die so as not to reveal their capabilities to the general public and criminals.

    If this was 1945, Churchill would be complaining to the Nazis about how their uncrackable Enigma was a security threat.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Coventry by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

      Perhaps they have issued a warrant to the suspects carrier and are getting the information from them?

    2. Re:Coventry by PPH · · Score: 1

      So, that means it's a legal problem. Not technical.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re:Coventry by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      There has never been a technical reason why a phone can't be tracked. Since the very first cellphone, the carriers knew which cell tower the phone was in. Not long after that they could approximate the position by looking at signal strength across nearby towers.
      Since cellphones had GPS's in them, they've been able to request a GPS position from the phone without the user doing anything. It's why they invented aGPS, so cellphones didn't need to spend 40+ seconds with a clear view of the sky to get a fix.

  36. my iPad geolocation works well without GPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It triangulates wireless sources

  37. Because Uber hackd your shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its all up in your shit with their app. Enjoy getting your shithole fucked!

  38. It's called gps by aglider · · Score: 1

    You should have smartphones sending gps (or other positioning data) to police everytime you dial 911 or whatever number you use for emergency calls.

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  39. Solved problem by qbast · · Score: 1

    "After years of pressure, wireless carriers and Silicon Valley companies are finally starting to work together to solve the problem. " - woohoo, multimillion grants all around. Or they could just use AML which is already implemented in every android phone and supported in several EU countries (with others in process of implementing it).

  40. You specifically tell Uber by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    It's not just that the apps have geolocation, that alone is not sufficient at all.

    What happens with Uber (and I think Lyft) apps, is that it uses your location to show an approximation of where you are on the map - but then you make the final choice about where exactly the pickup point is, by moving the point around the map. So there's a lot more active feedback from Uber app users than there is in a 911 scenario.

    I wouldn't mind seeing systems updated somehow so calling 911 also activated the most powerful GPS the device had, and sent what it had to 911 when you called so they would have that information.,

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  41. Such app does exist in Czech: Zachranka by short · · Score: 2

    Zachranka app is successfully cooperating with emergency services. But it works only in Czech Republic now, reportedly they are deploying it in some other EU countries.

  42. Bullshit ? by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    In every wireless 911 call I've ever seen*, GPS data is transmitted along with the calling number.
    ( * I've seen quite a lot considering what I do for a living )

    In addition, the GPS data transmitted is accurate to SIX digits past the decimal point.

    Example, here is PSAP data output ( sanitized for obvious reasons ) from a call that came in today:

    Of interest to this discussion, is the final line of data, which is the callers location. I had to wait for a few calls to come across
    as the first few were centered on individual homes, whereas this one is in the middle of the street and safe to publish. It tells me
    some other data as well, such as who the carrier is, the PSAP #, date and time, etc. etc. but I've omitted it here.

    Springfield IL Ph# (xxx) xxx-xxxx
    Wireless: Sangamon County
    Request caller location / number.
    ESN: xxxx
    CO= xxxxx
    Pos # xx
    +39.813541,-089.670775

    Want to know where it is ?

    Copy / paste that lat-long data line into Google Maps and presto. There's your caller.

  43. It's already a thing by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-s...

    America is just slow.

  44. Huh? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Love the John Oliver segment, but it would be child's play to put an app on everybody's phones that relayed GPS coords during and after a 911 call. I know folks scared of gov't tracking (which is funny, since the gov't has plenty of post 9/11 laws that let them track you as much as they want). But I'm a techy and this looks like a pretty easily solvable problem. The real hold up is money. You'd have to pay for it and that means taxes. And to be blunt, the rich neighborhoods have better systems for tracking plus private security systems. This is another one of those problems that only hits the poor and middle class.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Huh? by quetwo · · Score: 2

      You might thing that it's trivial to put an app on everybody's phones, and that may be the easiest part of this entire problem.... By the way, only about 60% of the cell phones in the USA, in use, run Android 4.0 or later OR iOS 5.0 or later. 40% either don't run either operating system or are that old. Yes, that is a problem when you start to talk to develop an app that everybody has. And, the app would need to work on all models, even flip phones and the 6 phones left out there that run that Microsoft OS.

      So, all that aside, you still need to figure out a way to communicate this data to the PSAP. Over TCP/IP? Well, what if the person doesn't subscribe to data service. Or you are driving down the road in the boon-docks and you don't have good data service. How about over the cellular connection? Well, how does the PSAP get that data once you've sent it... over the highly-compressed audio connection that will strip out most bandwidth from the conversation?

      So, once that data makes it to the PSAP, you still have to read that data. If it is inband, then you have a machine trying to parse that data. Will everybody use the same standard? One vendor is going to make that equipment? That sounds like a sweet contract. What about all those analog PSAPs out there (and yes, there are still a LOT of them). Are you going to force them to upgrade their software / hardware / telco connections? With what money?

  45. Sounds like Uncle Sam wants to go legit. by WolfgangVL · · Score: 1

    It's no secret that everything Americans do on any electronic device is scooped up in full-take surveillance. Cyberspace has no expectation of privacy. When we take steps to create a small amount of privacy, our letter agency cry foul with the power words TERRORISTS, CHILDREN, and WAR on X.

    We all need to remember that American security services are actively working against EVERYBODY when it comes to personal privacy. When things like this hit the headlines, its hard to not make the connection.

    FBI says it needs to break all encryption for our safety. NSA needs to gobble up more data than can possibly be analyzed, and big tech needs to see everything "To better serve their customers"

    We enlightened citizens push-back with facts and history, so they spin it and try another angle.

    The sad truth is that our government has been caught doing so much un-good and fact changing that citizens simply no longer trust anything they say. And for good reason.

    The 911 system does need an upgrade. I bet it is costing lives. But we've seen time and time again what happens when we trust our overseers with a little more power.

    Besides, they are ALREADY tracking everything. At this point it's just noise making to normalize it and go above board... you know...for the children

    --
    You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
  46. E911 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The E911 feature on cell phones was supposed to do this. Why is this not working?

    When I had to call 911 for an ambulance the E911 icon appeared and I gave the dispatcher my address. The paramedics called me to unlock my door - which was already unlocked. When I asked them to thewhat address they went, it was wrong. I gave them the correct address and went through that again. The third time they arrived at my location.

    Gladly, my condition was not life threatening. Sadly, there is a fire station with ambulance around the corner.

  47. Pinpointing anyone by DrYak · · Score: 1

    An enormous amount of modern phone are using SoC in a configuration where the baseband modem acts like the northbridge of the smartphone (e.g.: nearly every thing with built-in 3G/4G by Qualcomm).
    It can autonomously access RAM, other peripherals (including GSM), whitout any interraction from the main ARM cpu cores and the Linux/Android running on it.

    By standard (because it's a licensed frequency) you don't get a say on what that modem runs as a software, only licensee can decide.

    So in practice that modem runs parts of code which are defined in closed BLOB, and parts of code which are sent as over-the-air upgrades usually by the service provider (again, nearly completely outside the control of the main OS. On some phone, the main OS could even be shut down).

    It's like Intel ME, but on steroid.

    All it takes for a government/state-level attacker is to force a service provider to beam a specially crafted blob to the modem, and it will happily start broadcasting your GPS coordinates, what it listense on the mic, etc.

    In other words, if you have a smartphone in your pocket, you're already toast.

    So why again adding a small check box "Do you want to send your current GPS coordinate along with the audio/video feed of this call ?" and corresponding ITU standard to make this possible represent any increase in threat ?

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  48. Re:Because by plopez · · Score: 1

    No. Run for office or work for the opposition party to boot them out of office. As a citizen it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to run your government.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  49. Using per person spending falsely implies by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    they're spending that money on people. It's mostly wars. 7 wars actually (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Syria). After that it's keeping old people alive. See here. 70% of our budget is wars and keeping old folks alive. Now, I'm not opposed to the old folks (I am to the wars).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Using per person spending falsely implies by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      Per person just allows for the budget to grow as the number of people the government is supposed to serve grows. That's a better measurement than without taking population growth into account or comparing it to other irrelevant numbers which already include government spending (which some people like to do to try and make spending look better).

      Either way, way too much spending. Yes, that includes wars and yes it includes other things besides just old folks. Here's a decent analysis.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
  50. Already built into Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Such a service is already built into Google Play Services in Android. Its called Emergency Location Service (https://blog.google/topics/google-europe/helping-emergency-services-find-you/). Several countries such as UK, Estonia, Lithuania and Austria have it enabled for their emergency service numbers.

    http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tech-news/google-has-created-a-new-location-tool-to-help-emergency-services-find-you-faster-11364075879276
    https://thenextweb.com/eu/2017/03/10/googles-clever-tool-for-emergency-services-is-now-saving-lives/

  51. Display GPS Coordinates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've wondered for years why a GPS equipped phone itself couldn't simply display raw GPS coordinates to the user. Either within the built in phone software or a sufficient number of directly related apps (e.g., Google Maps). Then a person retains their privacy and can simply read off the coordinates to 911 (or whoever they choose). Of course, reading off cross-streets (if available from a map or road signs) is similar, and if you can't speak/text you're in trouble...but it's an improvement to have the option.

    Some of these things seem to be "hidden" from the user nowadays...I'm sure there are simple GPS data stream reading apps aplenty.

  52. Re:Because by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Sounds like you live in a functioning democracy. I live in a one-party state where the media/government union party uses racial identity politics and government union money to ensure they will always control the state.

  53. More millennials shouting from inside their bubble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    911 'finds us' just fine where I live. Might want to step out of your time zone and see for yourself instead of quoting statistics you have no direct experience with. The parroting just makes you look dumb and inexperienced. The 'socialists' among you should be grateful you can even call 911, I assure you such services do not exist in socialist/communist countries.

  54. How 911 Actually Works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Link to a good ELI5 from Reddit a few days ago. I work in fire/EMS & it sounds right from what I remember the dispatch center saying

    https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7mb35n/eli5_if_there_is_no_cellphone_signal_how_does_the/drsxmdn/

  55. Unproductive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This should be resolved by people who talk to each other like adults. This thread isn't a good use of time, people just provoked anger in each other while not knowing the details of what they're arguing about.

  56. Re:Because by dave420 · · Score: 0

    Why don't you work on fixing your democracy, instead of trying to cripple 911? It sounds like your priorities are entirely messed up.

  57. Re:Because by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Why don't you work on fixing your democracy, instead of trying to cripple 911? It sounds like your priorities are entirely messed up.

    I neither control democracy nor 911 service. If I had my way 911 service would be better. But local and state government serves the public less and less every year. The prefer to serve themselves. And voters have made themselves irrelevant by voting based on their race and their shallow self image rather than voting for their practical interests.

  58. WHAT YEAR IS THIS? by russotto · · Score: 1

    Enhanced wireless 911, including location information, was done years ago.

  59. Re:Because by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    You've got all sorts of excuses to sit on your ass and complain, don't you? If you're that unhappy about your government, find out how you can push it in the direction you want rather than find reasons why you can't.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  60. Re:Because by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Because spending your life trying to reform government is a good substitute for just not buying a product. Those are the two models of human interaction under discussion. Don't like a business, walk away from the transaction and be free of it. Don't like government, spend many years trying (and probably failing) to enact reforms. But you guys still think government is a better way for people to interact. So any reforms have to be enacted into a headwind of delusional fanaticism.