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These are essential national security assets, used for military purposes, and which a hostile (or even neutral) owner could turn off in case of war. The civilia
by azernik 9y ago
These are essential national security assets, used for military purposes, and which a hostile (or even neutral) owner could turn off in case of war. The civilian use-case is a handy side benefit.
- nradov 9y agoI've listened to interviews with the creators of GPS and they were very clear that it was always intended as a dual use military / civilian system.
- walrus01 9y agoIt's always been that way, I mean, the master gps control station is a very highly guarded USAF base in Colorado.
- andygates 9y agoWas a handy side-benefit, then GPS got so cheap and ubiquitous people tag their dogs and hire bikes. Now, location services are an essential civilian service.
- azernik 9y agoBut that's not the reason why all these countries feel the need to launch their own. If that was what India cared about they'd happily stick to GPS.
- pc86 9y agoJust because someone tags their dog doesn't make it an essential civilian service.
- heneryville 9y agoA number of devices are theorized to use GPS for cryptographic randomness, such as ATMs. In 2007 the US navy accidentally jammed San Diego's GPS signal, but the effect wasn't too huge. https://fieldlogix.com/news/navy-accidentally-jammed-gps-system-in-san-diego/ https://fieldlogix.com/news/navy-accidentally-jammed-gps-sys...