Magellan GPS - Restricting location monitoring to the local powers that be

Author

Restricting location monitoring to the local powers that be

Gerard Anthony Gold

2007-10-07, 7:33 am

Let's for the sake of argument say that when I have my GPS on, it increases
anticipatory behavior toward me of nationals of country, say X. Say I arrive
at these conclusions from my interpretation of body cues, stress signals, or
driving patterns.

Does Magellan or any of the other GPS manufacturers plan to restrict
interception of GPS info to the local powers that be and their allies?

Also, just thinking ahead, how would this be done for a civilian consumer?
(Obviously, military GPS better have it built in already.)

Would any one know if the GPS manufacturers have, or plan to provide, a
feature that lets you do this with consumer GPS?

Pieter

2007-10-07, 10:33 am

I'm not quite sure of the question, but it sounds like a concern about 1 of
2 possibilities:
1. That unfriendly governments or groups could locate a GPS carried by a
person (by signal?) or
2. That the information (waypoints, tracks, etc) might be important to keep
secret.

The quick answer to the first possibility is that a GPS does not send any
signal - it is a receive only deice. As such, it is not easily found. Cell
phone "GPS" or triangulation of position by signal, is far more likely to be
easily exploited to find a person.

The quick answer to the second point is that some GPS models have an erase
memory feature that can be triggered by a "secret" start-up key sequence or
combination. As I recall, my Garmin 12xl could have all the information in
memory erase with a two or three key startup combination. This would at
least destroy the information, providing the user was concious and
remembered the keystroke before the bad guys got it. I do not know of a GPS
that uses some form of password encryption to protect the stored data.
Since these key combinations are used for factory maintenace or service
purposes, you may have to look around the web model-by-model to see which
have this kind of erase feature.

"Gerard Anthony Gold" < followthegold_nospam
@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:m42Oi.688$fd7.207@newsfe13.phx...
> Let's for the sake of argument say that when I have my GPS on, it
> increases anticipatory behavior toward me of nationals of country, say X.
> Say I arrive at these conclusions from my interpretation of body cues,
> stress signals, or driving patterns.
>
> Does Magellan or any of the other GPS manufacturers plan to restrict
> interception of GPS info to the local powers that be and their allies?
>
> Also, just thinking ahead, how would this be done for a civilian consumer?
> (Obviously, military GPS better have it built in already.)
>
> Would any one know if the GPS manufacturers have, or plan to provide, a
> feature that lets you do this with consumer GPS?
>
>
>
>
>
>

Chuck...

2008-01-04, 4:33 am

"Gerard Anthony Gold" < followthegold_nospam
@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:m42Oi.688$fd7.207@newsfe13.phx:

> Let's for the sake of argument say that when I have my GPS on, it
> increases anticipatory behavior toward me of nationals of country, say
> X. Say I arrive at these conclusions from my interpretation of body
> cues, stress signals, or driving patterns.
>
> Does Magellan or any of the other GPS manufacturers plan to restrict
> interception of GPS info to the local powers that be and their allies?
>
> Also, just thinking ahead, how would this be done for a civilian
> consumer? (Obviously, military GPS better have it built in already.)
>
> Would any one know if the GPS manufacturers have, or plan to provide,
> a feature that lets you do this with consumer GPS?
>
>
>
>
>
>

If your GPS is Bluetooth enabled and it is hooked up to your GPS ready
phone then a case could be made that you could be tracked via precise
GPS data through the local phone cell network... If anyone cared enough
to reach out and touch you...!

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