From: rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 94 17:52:46 PST
To: rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)
Subject: Re: Real-time surveillance of the police
Message-ID: <199412120151.UAA15784@zork.tiac.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At  3:14 PM 12/11/94 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:
>I don't plan to say much more, and won't be playing the "Twenty
>Questions" game, but the system does _not_ use satellites or anything
>of that sort. Satellites up the ante considerably, and aren't even
>needed.

No invitatation to twenty questions intended. You could have sat quietly
and let me make a fool of myself (or not) without futher comment.

Since you have...

I believe if you reread what I wrote, I said that the accuracy with
satelites was considerable using a pretty small box to begin with (for
instance, the Geostar satellite-based system's predicted accuracy was about
6 inches in two dimensions and two meters in three dimensions), but that
with local antennae (say every block or so) you could have pretty
phenomenal accuracy the the signal was possible. If you put embedded
antennae in the walls (we put wires in walls already, yes?) you could get
accuracy enough to precision mill with ;-).

So, given your reference to ground-based radio, I think we're in "violent
agreement here".

The application of this to physical commerce has been discussed here
before. Just pick up a tagged item and walk out of a store with it.  It
could be made anonymous, I bet.


>
>Radio is enough to get 1% positional accuracy (or better) and radio
>can have better coverage in many places that GPS-like systems can't reach.
>
>> the backs of commerce. The only thing which saved GPS for mere mortals like
>> us was the MIC's usual severe understimate of Grove's Law and the
>                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^
>> exponential cost effectiveness of integrated circuits over time.

>A minor nit, but that's "Moore's Law,

A major nit, in my book, and one I'm standing on the wrong side of. I got
Andy Grove confused with Gordon Moore. It must because they look so much
alike. :-).

Grovelling in your general direction as always,
Bob Hettinga
;-)

<I seem to be downwind as usual...>





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