July 11, 2005
Attack in U.S. Would Tax Emergency Tracking for Mobile Phone Users
If attacks similar to those that occurred last week in London were to happen in the U.S., it would be difficult for emergency crews to locate people trying to summon help via their cell phones, according to experts, reports Computer World.
"Despite efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to beef up mobile services so cell phones could be used to help track down people, "we're in a sad state of affairs in the U.S.," said Jack Gold, an independent analyst at J. Gold Associates in Northboro, Mass.
Part of the problem with using enhanced 911 (E911) wireless services would be too many people making calls at the same time, Gold said. Also, technical complexities and costs have slowed efforts by wireless carriers to implement automatic systems that could be used to locate cell phone callers, Gold and other experts said.
The dilemma of tracking cell phone users has led to new technologies, including one to be developed through a collaboration announced last week between TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) in Annapolis, Md., and Skyhook Wireless Inc. in Boston.
Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System will be integrated with routing technology in TCS's VoIP E911 service, said Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan.
Skyhook locates and records thousands of Wi-Fi access points in major cities and keeps them in a database, so when a Wi-Fi call is made, the location of the access point and others nearby can be sent to emergency personnel, Morgan said."
Picture from the BBC's in pictures coverage of the bombings.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/07/009031.htm