[governance] GPS mandatory on all mobile phones to be manufactured in India.

Wed Apr 27 03:43:18 EDT 2016

I am learning a lot through this trend.
Thanks people for sharing your knowledge with the group through constrctive discussions. 
I mostly like the spirit.
Regards,Arsene
IGC Co-cooordinator

    Le Mercredi 27 avril 2016 9h22, Guru Acharya <gurcharya at gmail.com> a écrit :

 While I agree with Ang's and Harish's analysis, I would still highlight concerns about a technology regulation policy instrument that mandates a particular brand of technology, thereby precluding competition and innovation. 
GPS has other alternatives such as GLONASS, GALILEO and GNSS. While I haven't seen the original executive notification by the Central Government,  I would be concerned if they specifically mandated the use of GPS. The GPS is designed and maintained by the US government and a lot of IPR royalty flows to companies in the US for every GPS chipset that is manufactured and sold anywhere in the world.
The Government should instead consider using a performance regulation policy instrument that mandates performance parameters (eg. The device should accurately determine location upto 5 meters), which effectively allows the device manufacturers and consumers to choose a positioning technology of their choice.
On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 12:19 PM, Ang Peng Hwa (Prof) <TPHANG at ntu.edu.sg> wrote:

Thanks Harish.The concerns I have seen re GPS chips are misplaced then. The concerns should really be about the use of the data by other apps. And a lot of them are gathering excessively already.The possible abuse of a technology should not be a reason not to have the technology. All powerful technologies are susceptible to abuse.Regards,
ANG Peng Hwa 

-------- Original Message --------
From: Harish Pillay <harish.pillay at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 11:18 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org,Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [governance] GPS mandatory on all mobile phones to be manufactured in India.
CC: George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky at gmail.com>,"Ang Peng Hwa (Prof)" <TPHANG at ntu.edu.sg>

> In this article, the sub-section titled "malware can turn on webcam" is what
> causes concern. This danger is explained in greater detail in the article
> http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/how-hackers-can-switch-on-your-webcam-and-control-your-computer-20130328-2gvwv.html
>
> My concern about GPS is on a similar abuse of technology.

The GPS chips are receive only. The information it receives is then used
by whatever application to then do as the application pleases based on
the permissions granted to the application by the device.

Most technologies have dual purpose possibilities. A person trying to
track her family via GPS enabled devices and appropriate apps would say
that this is a wonderful thing and at the same time, be concerned that since
she can track her family, so can anyone else. What is needed is trusted
applications that declare what they are doing (along with view of the
source code)
to ensure that nothing is amiss and that there is a clear and defined set
of considerations that are enumerated and understood.

Harish
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