From:	The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK>
Subject:	Dangers Of Portable Phones: Pt II
Date:	Mon, 21 Mar 1994 17:19:34 +0000

Right, hopefully you'll have read Pt I so I think most of you will agree with
me when I say, 'If this is what is being discussed today you can count on the
fact that in the world of shadowrun it will be fact.'

The most worrying point, from a players point of view, is the ability to be
tracked at any time simply by the fact that they have a portable phone. For
players this is a major worry, think about how many of 'your' players have
headphones, wristphones or personal secretaries. All of these give off what
os known as a paging signal which identifies it to a local receiver, the local
receiver has positional information built in to enable such things as 'the
security' of the handset. Note, this paging signal is given off all the time
that the phone is switched on, ie any time that you are waiting for calls or
any time that you are actually using the phone.

Players with portable phones suddenly find themselves targets to anyone who has
a decker good enough to be able to break into the phone companies computer and
download the current location of a particular handset. Don't forget all that
enterprising decker needs is the phone number of the handset, once in the
phone system they can cross reference that number to the current information
regarding the movement of that receiver. They can also download the movements
of that receiver for as long as it has been switched on. For headphones this
is a 'serious' worry for players.

So now we come to the point I wish to discuss, 'What will have happened ?'

I get the strong impression that FASA somehow overlooked this facet of portable
phones, however that does not mean that this technology is invalid. There is
however the problem of what to do with characters with headphones, when I
mentioned the subject to my players the other day and showed them the article
I think the best description was 'a stony silence'. Not suprisingly my players
were pissed, fortunately for them I said I'd discuss it on the board somewhat
before implementing anything on a large scale.

So what are we to do with all our characters who possess headphones ?

Also, I'd be interested to see what you Americans think of this proposed law.

Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | Fighting against
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | Political Correctness !
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse