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To: Puck who wrote (70)	11/20/2000 5:06:45 PM
From: EJhonsa	Respond to of 9255

I've heard two arguments against network based solutions. The first involves privacy. I've read elsewhere that network based solutions are always on whereas terminal based solutions can be turned off. Some interesting statistics from the Planet Project Poll: biz.yahoo.com More than 23 percent of those polled said they would be willing to implant a painless tracking device inside their newborn child if it would let them always know the location of their child. South Africans were most likely to do so, nearly 31 percent who took the poll said they would, as did 29 percent of Canadians and 25 percent of United Kingdom residents. About 26 percent of Americans said they would. Most opposed were the Greeks. Only 7 percent said they would, followed by the Swiss and Austrians, where only 8 percent approved. Combine the results of this poll with the fact that Europe has some of the strictest consumer privacy laws in existence, and it might not be a stretch to assume that there could be a number of European subscribers who could feel very uneasy about using a carrier that employs a network-based location service, which in turn could result in a public outcry; and with Europe having a very high rate of pre-paid users, a lot of these subscribers could leave fairly easily. Granted, it's highly unlikely that mass exoduses will take place, but even if 3-5% of a carrier's subscriber base becomes so uncomfortable with such a system that it considers switching operators, that could be more than enough of an impetus for not using a network-based location system. Eric PS - I have to admit that the Orwellian implications of location technologies, network-based or otherwise, do worry me a little. The fact that more than 25% of all people polled in certain countries actually answered "yes" to the question previously mentioned is quite startling. I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of schools and corporations requiring individuals to carry a device that tracks their location. It's also possible that some of the more authoritarian governments in existence (i.e. North Korea, Myanmaar) could make this requirement for all citizens. Perhaps I'm getting a little too paranoid here, but the fact that technological developments now make such scenarios plausible is kind of unsettling when you think about it.