GPS - Soon Pay to Play For Increased Safety

[crabcake]

US Announces Selective Availability For GPS Devices

April 1, 2017 by John Konrad


At a joint press conference today at Schriever Air Force Base, the United States Coast Guard announced a new feature to the GPS system they will start rolling out as early as January of 2018.
The “new” feature announced is referred to as “Selective Availability” and promises to improve GPS accuracy by “a factor of negative 200%” according to a press release issued by the USCG’s Office of Research and Development (RDT&E).
Those familiar with the history of GPS will remember that “selective availability” (SA) was a feature of early GPS systems which added intentional, time varying errors of up to 100 meters (328 ft) to the publicly available navigation signals. This was intended to deny an enemy the use of civilian GPS receivers for precision weapon guidance.
“The increase in terror activities around the globe have caused us to re-evaluate the GPS system. Said Captain Brian Winters, head of RDT&E. “We were mandated by the White House in April to develop a system to thwart the use of America’s GPS systems by terrorists and enemies of the state”.
Selective Availability was turned off by a mandate from President Clinton in May 2, 2000. Todays announcement did not explain why an old system of encryption – was reactivated rather than developing a new, more secure, system like eLoran but the answer likely lies in the large cuts to the USCG budget announced by the White House earlier this year.
A statement from the White House confirms the news. “The President thanks the USCG and Air Force for developing a system that will make America stronger with ZERO cost to the tax payer. This is Win-Win!”
Inside sources tell gCaptain that after SA is reactivated the USCG will be allowed to sell the Selective Availability decryption key to civilians at a moderate price of $9.99 per month. The USCG did not specify if that price was per device or if it will allow users to activate multiple devices on one account.
“We realize that 328 ft accuracy will invalidate many of the GPS features people rely on for use in their iPhones and Andriod devices which is why the White House is asking that we offer SA decryption keys for sale to the public.” said Winters. “The SA decryption keys will be sold by the same vendors that currently handle Transportation Workers Identification Cards (TWIC) card applications. This is a plug and play solution. People who want to purchase SA decription keys will simply have to visit their local TWIC center, be fingerprinted and apply for the special key that will decrypt the SA signal. Those fingerprints will allow any mobile phone with a built in scanner to decrypt the key and receive GPS signals within a 4 meter RMS (7.8 meter 95% Confidence Interval) horizontal accuracy.”


In a series of tweets today President Trump wrote:

“We built GPS for 3.6 trillion $$ and we are giving it away for free. Crazy!!”

“”We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout for these encryption keys. People from around the world will love them. It is an exciting time for our country!”


“This SA Plan is brilliant! It will pay for the entire Mexico Wall AND will allow us to start work on my next BIG project… a Canada Wall!”


Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, responded to the presidents tweet with this remark “Thats ok, our phones work just fine with the European Union’s Galileo positioning system.”


US Announces Selective Availability For GPS Devices – gCaptain

[Tkeeth]

Had me going until "canada wall" Posted a couple days late.

[crabcake]

Originally Posted by Tkeeth

Had me going until "canada wall" Posted a couple days late.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Tkeeth

Had me going until "canada wall" Posted a couple days late.

That's what made me think it was for real..

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by boatman61

That's what made me think it was for real..

I thought it was real until I read the tweets. They didn't include "Sad!"

[a64pilot]

April Fools was two days ago?

[softgoodsint]

Well, I'm going for the "Charlie Brown w/ Lucy (not) holding the football" award again this year! Every year I space the fact that April 1st is that time of year again, and I'm taken in by someone's prank. Good Grief, Charlie Brown.

[crabcake]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

April Fools was two days ago?

Day late and a dollar short.

But good for those who are having Blue Monday....

[ArmyDaveNY]

I believe that Dufour are including these as standard features on their new submersible sailboat. This boat also has the new Mr. Fusion personal reactor allowing for cruises up to five years without the need to surface or refuel.

[SV Sailfish]

Darn... I was hoping this was for real.

I figured it would help me get rid of my 30 year old kid still living at home. I could send him to the store and his GPS would no longer lead him back home.

[Island Time O25]

In other breaking news:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a similar pay2play arrangment with GLONASS. But according to him it will be more competitive than the package offered by USCG. For the same $9.99 a month you will get not only full SA access into US GPS system but also a large bowl of hot borscht and one visit per month from any Russian model of your choosing. GLONASS expects a brisk business in the coming fiscal year.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

In other breaking news:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a similar pay2play arrangment with GLONASS. But according to him it will be more competitive than the package offered by USCG. For the same $9.99 a month you will get not only full SA access into US GPS system but also a large bowl of hot borscht and one visit per month from any Russian model of your choosing. GLONASS expects a brisk business in the coming fiscal year.

In Russia, GLONASS coordinates come to you, along with the FSB!

Also, Ensign Chekov would like to point out that Russia invented coordinates.

[Lapincherry]

Our single Mom daughter Nurse got us this year. She called very serious her Application to the Airforce had been accepted and she had to go to Basic Officer training for Six months and could we take care of her two boys. Both my wife and I sucked it up like. 7-11 slurrpy. Sucked this one up to uniting the wall comment.

[Tkeeth]

Originally Posted by SV Sailfish

Darn... I was hoping this was for real.

I figured it would help me get rid of my 30 year old kid still living at home. I could send him to the store and his GPS would no longer lead him back home.

I just kicked them out....your at least 10 years behind. Your house, tell them to LEAVE

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by SV Sailfish

Darn... I was hoping this was for real.

I figured it would help me get rid of my 30 year old kid still living at home. I could send him to the store and his GPS would no longer lead him back home.

You, too?!?

Originally Posted by Tkeeth

I just kicked them out....your at least 10 years behind. Your house, tell them to LEAVE

Easier said than done.