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1998-04-21 - Re: Position escrow

Header Data

From: Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
To: Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>
Message Hash: 09076fcbe572c51be146b9b3e6134846c0203ce328fc708e445151cda24af363
Message ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.980421153643.2922A-100000@netcom5>
Reply To: <199804212208.PAA22084@servo.qualcomm.com>
UTC Datetime: 1998-04-21 23:43:53 UTC
Raw Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 16:43:53 -0700 (PDT)

Raw message

From: Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 16:43:53 -0700 (PDT)
To: Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>
Subject: Re: Position escrow
In-Reply-To: <199804212208.PAA22084@servo.qualcomm.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.980421153643.2922A-100000@netcom5>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Tue, 21 Apr 1998, Phil Karn wrote:

> This is a really difficult issue. Even the most diehard cypherpunk
> cannot doubt the usefulness of a cellular position reporting
> capability in an emergency situation, when the user *wants* the cops
> or whoever to know where he is.  The big problem is how to keep it
> from being used (or abused) for "law enforcement" purposes without the
> consent of the user.

Usfull != good idea. If the information is available for some purposes, 
it is, or soon will, become available for other purposes. The only way to 
prevent this is to not make the information available for *any* purpose.

I gladly take the cellphone without 911 locator over the cellphone with 
24/7 postion escrow. Furthermore, I content that there is no middle 
ground between the two. Assuming of course the phone doesn't have an 
active locator device that can be enabled using a special 911 button.

YMMV.

-- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred

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