[Publib] GPS in cell phones

[Lynne Ingersoll]

Cynic that I am, in this society Big Brother trumps humanitarianism 99% of
the time.  (Yes, that's a made-up statistic - it's probably more like
99.9999999999%)

I am sure everyone is right who said GPS in cell phones is only to enable
911 calls.  Yeah, ok.  And a former supervisor I had back in my banking days
who said no one would ever collect the information in grocery bar codes and
attach sales info to those preferred cards we all carry -- he's probably
right too.

My only attitude-explanation is that it is Monday and is really cold in
Chicago and on top of zero degrees we're expecting 2-4+ inches of snow
tonight, and I work until 9:00!)

Lynne S. Ingersoll
Reference Services Manager
Technical Services Manager
Blue Island Public Library
2433 York Street
Blue Island, IL 60406
(708) 388-1078 x20
(708) 388-9301 Fax

-----Original Message-----
From: Cranmer, Donna [mailto:dcranmer at SIOUXFALLS.org] 
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 3:16 PM
To: Lynne Ingersoll; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] patron information

Lynn,

I'm pretty sure that's to enable 911 addressing for emergency
responders, as required by the FCC. If you're in an accident, you're
mostly out of it, but can still call 911 on your cell phone-emergency
responders have some hope of finding you within even a few yards. There
has been a fair amount of stories about how many cell phone emergency
calls are next to useless because they cannot be tracked back to source
only to a cell tower origination, unlike land lines. I suspect this is
one arena where you have no choice-it is a requirement. In this case,
while it may seem Big Brotherish, it is for humanitarian motives.

 		Donna

Donna Cranmer
Technical Services Librarian
Siouxland Libraries
201 N Main Ave
PO Box 7403
Sioux Falls, SD 57117-7403
605-367-8712
dcranmer at siouxfalls.org