PSA — B.B. has an eye on your cellphone, you fool
Two weeks ago, my wife was in a car accident. It turned out to be a minor fender bender on the highway, but at the time I didn’t know that.
She called me. I was out of town on business. She asked me to call 911 (her phone had gotten wet recently, and the number 1 on her keypad wasn’t working — is this shaping up to be a plot out of Final Destination or what?).
I called. I tell them my wife’s been in an accident on Turnpike.
“Where on Turnpike?”
“Just north of Atlantic Blvd.”
“Atlantic … sir, this is the Lakeland 9-1-1.”
The gentleman proceeded to tell me that even though my phone is a 954 Broward County area code, my cell phone company automatically connects me with the local 9-1-1 for the area I’m in.
So … OF COURSE, the guy didn’t have the number for Broward 9-1-1 (LME). He told me to call 4-1-1 … after having to yell at two different phone operators (“You wanna be the news? My wife’s been in a CAR ACCIDENT ON THE HIGHWAY and you’re not connecting me!”) I finally got through to a nice lady at BSO (Gracie, I think was her name) who took charge of the situation and got assistance out to my wife. The roadside assistance people even changed a damaged tire for her. I’m thankful for their help.
At any rate, I told Damian about this, and he insisted that I write about my 9-1-1 cell phone experience. I’m sure the technical types are already aware of this — this is a PSA for the common man who, like myself, gets the cheapest Nokia phone possible when renewing his or her family plan with AT&T or Verizon or whoever.
You see, my little Nokia is a GSM phone. It has three bands — 850, 1800, and 1900. If you’re in Europe, switch the 850 for 900.
My phone is a 2G phone, even though I have a 3G chip. 2G is apparently Tri-Band, and 3G is Quad-Band. Quad-Band offers more coverage.
Well, even though I have the phone with the older technology, the cell-phone company, via the cell towers, can locate me and know instantly that I’m in Lakeland when dialing 9-1-1, even though I have Broward County number.
***
Since the vast majority of people now use cellphones, I think it’s pretty safe to declare the era of privacy is now over.
Here goes: the era of privacy is now officially over. It’s been over for quite some time now — several years, at least.
There, I said it. Whether you embrace the new age of everything being public (I saw an author once on C-Span pitching that privacy is overrated and this new era is better for everybody), or not, it’s here.
***
On a side-note: I am currently rereading 1984, and making a list of modern things that remind me of the phrases and symbolism from that book. Clearly, the cell phone tracking will be under Big Brother is Watching You.
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It’s amazing how local 911 services can’t make direct transfers to other departments.
I hope your wife gets the “1″ fixed for the future.
Can’t wait for your 1984 post(s)!
The Bluetooth wireless technology that allows people to use a hands-free earpiece while making a mobile telephone call could soon alert the emergency services when someone has a heart attack, Ofcom predicts.
The communications regulator said that sensors could be implanted into people at risk of heart attack or diabetic collapse that would allow doctors to monitor them remotely.
If the “in-body network” recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, it would send an alert, via a nearby base station at their home, to a surgery or hospital.
1984 post(s), wow you people were posting that far back…damn