From:	David Hinkley dhinkley@***.org
Subject:	NAV-DAT GPS (was: Mapping Software)
Date:	Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:55:51 -0700

From: Starrngr@***.com
Date sent: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 06:00:04 EDT
Subject: Re: NAV-DAT GPS (was: Mapping Software)
To: shadowrn@*********.org
Send reply to: shadowrn@*********.org

> In a message dated 6/28/99 12:08:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> kennethv@****.wisc.edu writes:
>
> > How does this apply to Shadowrun? Right now the tech and gear to do
> > what I just described costs around $15,000 and thus only corps and
> > universities
> > can afford it. By 2060 I can only imagine that this sort of thing is
> > commonplace
> > and available to the average Joe for no more than a couple thousand nuyen.
>
> > Hope
> > this helps.
>
> This also does not take into account the fact that the military would have
> had 70 years to develop another system for their own use and relased the GPS
> system into general civilian use.
>
The purpose behind the scrambled signal is to prevent anyone not on thier
"friends" list to use a civilian reciever for military tasks like artilery
spoting or
smart bombs or locating our secret bases. Even if the military develops
something better, the present system is good enough for effective use by the
"wrong hands".

Granted the "work arounds" discussed on the list have eliminated the
effectiveness of the scrambling, but that is not likely to cause the government
to stop scrambling the signal. What is more likely is a "ban" on the work
around. Consider satelite photos, US firms are limited by law in the resolution
they can use. This was to keep secret the goverments survalince capablity.
This continued even after a French firm and the Russian government began
marketing higher resolultion photos. Then there are the US laws on
encription...or how to convert a T shirt into a munition, but that is another
story.




David Hinkley
dhinkley@***.org