Thursday, December 11, 2008

Release the GPS in Egypt Now

I do not understand why the GPS system up till now is banned. I do not accept that silly naive justification that our national security is being threatened by the latest method of espionage just like one of the official magazines described the GPS from couple of weeks !! “I do not remember if it were Akher Saa or October or Al Maussawar actually”
It is an insult to our minds to believe such talk , what national security they are scared on with all the satellites in the space . I can’t believe !!
Do you we have more greater military secrets than America and the European countries !!?? What military bases they fear to be exposed with all those satellites !!?? Come on what about Google earth that exposed the presidential palaces ??
I feel that it is not about the national security but it is rather about the regime security !! I do not know !!
It is not about Mobile phones ,it is about how the regime deals with the people and new technologies. Despite that the topic is reopened again with the official release of the iPhone in Egypt and the negotiations of Nokia with the telecommunication ministry.
The GPS is not for the commercial use in Egypt , to have a GPS device in Egypt then you must get a license from the security authority. If you sell GPS devices mobile phones according to telecoms Law No.10/2003, your whole stock will be confiscated , same thing for cars !!??
Oh God where are we ?? !!
It makes no sense when most of the rich VIPs kids Egypt got GPS mobile phones they bought from abroad. It makes no sense when most Egyptians buy and bring back GPS mobile phones to home.It makes no sense when those GPS mobiles are sold in the black market !!??
I think the GPS can be very useful in a country like Egypt and I am not speaking about tourism and trips but how many times you get lost while going to those new communities and cities in 6th of October or new Cairo !!?? To tell you the truth I do not trust easily people anymore especially in these areas to get directions,it is unsafe.
I wish that the minister of telecommunication or any other official comes out with an official statement of why the GPS is banned in Egypt , I wish that this official statement would respect our minds with real convincing reasons not vague unrealistic words from old time.
By the way according to what I understand from this the GPS feature in iPhone is just locked but not totally removed and it can be solved by some unknown software lock , still does not the GPS feature needs the mobile phone operator support !!??
Updated:
  • Check out the Guardian coverage.
  • I just want to ask how the GPS will help the terrorists to win ?? Do we have terrorists in Egypt ?? If the GPS terrorist friendly why America does not ban it.
  • I wonder they buy those GPS enabled iPhone after all if I am going to pay all that sum of money, I want a full function iPhone with all its features abroad , it is unfair to about L.E 4500 with a messing feature , I want the whole complete experience of iPhone :(
  • Till when this GPS will continue !!??
  • I want to see the mobile phones of the IT minister because I am pretty sure one of them , if not all of them got GPS feature ;)

6 comments:

  1. a quick comment: i've suddenly appeared here because, first, it's an interesting blog...but beyond that, i'm an american blogger who is trying to learn more about egypt in the hopes of teaching americans about the country.

    ok, that out of the way, here is a page that will answer your gps questions very nicely.

    just to add to the discussion, a new product called zoombak has come to market this year.

    it is a gps device that allows you to set boundaries...and if the person or object attached to the zoombak enters or leaves the boundary area the gps device sends you a text or email. the device reports its location in a way that you can continuously access from your computer or cellphone.

    one application: keeping track of the kids.

    another application: set up a boundary and put the device on your car. if someone steals your car, it will email or text you to let you know what has happened.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm... I didn't know about the GPS ban before reading your post! Is it banned by a law? Were was that ban mentioned?
    I thought about how useful a GPS device would be in Egypt, but then thought about the fact that thousands of the streets in Egypt don't even have a name, so how would a GPS work?
    Anyone can install a GPS software on his/her laptop. How can it be banned?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. the quick and easy answer to your questions are that the gps interface must be distributed to the gps devices by local networks...and it's relatively easy to block local companies from providing the service.

    it's also relatively easy to ban certain devices not just by using customs to prevent importing, but by ordering networks to block access to those devices.

    how could such a device work in egypt?

    the easy way would be to superimpose a "you are here" icon of some sort on a google earth image--which would work even if no street name were present.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @fake consultant, all that will be great if it was allowed in Egypt.

    @Hina wa Hinak , yes there is a law that says so No.10 for year 2003
    streets without names can't be a good excuse of not having this technology to Egypt
    they banned without giving a good reason

    ReplyDelete
  5. check hackint0sh.org and egyptianapple.com
    the case is solved at least for the iphone at firmware 2.2. just a software patch and GPS is working

    ReplyDelete
  6. @anonymous, are u sure that the GPS can work ?I checked Egyptianapple.com and I did not find anything except it can be hacked but how they did not mention

    ReplyDelete

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