All Japan cellphones to have GPS in 2007

[Steve Bildermann]

Worryingly, Japan's telecommunications ministry is placing a big priority on being able to pinpoint cellphones' location. The avowed purpose is to help find people who've phoned in emergency calls; but we can't help being worried both in the sense that it starts you thinking what the powers-that-be might know about the timing of the next really colossal earthquake that we don't, and in the sense that whatever one says about disasters we're sure that the happy side effect of having GPS in every phone will be that anyone deemed to be an antisocial element or potential terrorist can be tracked at will.

http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf/CID/onair/asabt/news/308725

In April 2007 when the emergency call service starts, however, 100% of mobile phones, including those using some alternative measurement system, will be able to locate the user with position information.

What is GPS

[cstaylor]

Steve, that's backwards. The phones don't need GPS to locate them: the towers need to coordinate about where the signals are coming from.

Maybe they'll cheat by having the phones broadcast their locations onto the cell network. Can't be too difficult to hack that code with the right tools (just have it send Koizumi's office or 109 Shibuya 24 hours a day).