"In the U.K., two people were rescued off the Essex coast after the coastguard traced an emergency call from their wireless phone. A major air and sea search was launched after the pair called emergency officials. Authorities were able to trace the signal from their wireless phone to locate and rescue the boaters. (Source: BBC News)"
From the CTIA Newswire. The american provision for all phones to be "911 enabled" essentially made every single one of our phones a beacon of our location and position available to rescue and law enforcement at a moments notice. Several papers at the ICA conference lamented this fact and pointed out the privacy issues related to this technology as it is marketed from the point of view of safety, with its unnerving surveillance aspect concealed behind an enforced hysteria. Yet, its examples like the one above, that keep lending credence to the logic of the "911 enabled" phone. I do not disagree that such a function is necessary. I just wish I was given a choice on whether to use it or not.
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