Wednesday, December 10, 2008

No GPS for iPhone in Egypt

This is a sad news, either it is for an iPhone or GPS fans, but one of many features for mobile users to pick up an iPhone 3G besides its cool factor is because of its features.

And particularly in this case is for Egyptians who have been dying to hold the sleek-slim mobile phone from Apple, there is no GPS for their new iPhone 3G.

The main reason is said for Egypt's national security, as reported by iPhone Atlas:

"The Egyptian government’s belief that the GPS features could be a military security risk and therefore should be limited only to the military in that country. However, an even more significant aspect of the exclusion involves the effect on pro-democracy movements. Coupled with the fact that this is not the first time that the Egyptian government has clashed with technology and probably will not be the last. The Times article goes into details of another example regarding Facebook."

It's a shame really, but even after what happened in Mumbai terrorists attack, IMHO erasing GPS feature in mobile phones is not by far the best solution. At this very same day, I also read in PC World article on how car dealers are using GPS to track down risky buyers. And parents are beginning to plant GPS in their children's vehicles to know where those reckless teens are going to.

We're entering the gray area right now, since we can't deny the fact that terrorists are also taking advantage of the GPS technology in their attacks. But at the same time we're enjoying the benefits from GPS, is taking down the GPS feature will solve this dilemma?

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