RE: Security Concerns with Emergency uses of Geo Location

This is starting to drift off-topic so this will be my final posting
on the subject.

> > > Ask anyone who is waiting for the emergency operator's phone
> > > to ring how much he cares about authentication.

> > Actually, he may care a lot. Examples abound where exposure of information
> > about emergency situations is a very serious concern in its own right.

> I'd think that authentication was a significant issue for false alarms
> etc. While the cost of responding to a false 911 call in a city may be a
> few thousand dollars absorbed into general expenses, the cost of
> responding to a false EPIRB at sea might be millions, while backcountry
> searches are not inexpensive either.
> (http://www.epirb.de seems good)

First of all, the concern I was responding to was exposure of information, not
authentication of information per se. Second, the case I was thinking of was
eavesdropping on emergency location information for nefarious purposes. All
sorts of criminal activity could be facilitated by knowing where an emergency
is occurring, especially when that information is available before emergency
services have a chance to respond.

                                Ned
Received on Sat Jul 14 11:19:36 2001