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© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Japan explores using cell phones to stop pandemics
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iraira
Cool, the government will know and be able to save data on where I am every minute of the day....no reason to feel weird about that, ne?
bokudayo
How long until this becomes mandantory... :(
Disillusioned
Why not just give everyone a GPS implant and be done with it? Who comes up with this crap? I especially like the comparison to Tamiflu. “I think it would have a bigger impact than Tamiflu,” Does this mean more kids will be jumping out og the windows trying to escape GPS detection?
supercub
I like how this is presented as some kind of scary and extreme scenario, when this exact situation happens all the time in schools.
bobobolinski
So, if I get this right, in the event of a real epidemic people who were known to be infected would be allowed to wander round and come into close contact with others, who would then be informed that they had been in contact with an infected person. Or is it retrospective? Everybody is tracked all the time, and then if one becomes ill, all people who have had recent contact with that person are contacted? Or is it just a way to drum up cell phone business - "better than Tamiflu for prevention"?
flammenwerfer
Too 'Big Brother' for me.
Also -
Hang on, IIRC just a few months ago the political powers to be lead by the militant Osaka Governor Hashimoto, were all for completely banning cell phones in Primary schools. Yet, here we are now giving free phones to primary kids in one school. Obviously this trial wont be in Osaka Pref' - Hashimoto will have a conniption.
Sebaschan
other countries are doing perfectly fine without such "sh*". If they are lucky and find out that every student is going to the cantine around 12o'clock every day... only if... will they close them in order to prevent an epedemic? g*
maybe they will also implement a warning system if a gaijin is in close location to you? Oh no I think they have something like that already g
Beelzebub
This is ludicrous. Cell phones ARE a pandemic, of stupidity, and the entire nation seems to be infected and in critical condition.
Samuraiiki
These people thrive on fear. The TV stations even promote it. The news are casted in whispers.
bamboohat
This is a fantastic marketing gimmick by Softbank. They came up with a reason for everybody to need their product, and convinced the government to fund a study to prove it. Brilliant.
Badsey
This could be the next killer app -literally.
nath
I think this would be great, but should be tested with adults as well.
jackfish
Its for research. A limited controlled study to use existing technical capabilities to try to better understand the propagation of highly contagious illnesses. Its nice to see an existing pervasive technology being used for something beneficial. Turn your big-brother fear mongering down a notch.
doombird
I don't like they way they're confusing warning systems with prevention. A cell phone can't diagnose a disease, nor can it make you go to the doctor. It can't determine who's infected and who's not unless someone inputs that information. So what is the point of having a cell phone that supposedly alerts you if your child comes in contact with an infected person?
It's a nice little experiment, but as far as flu prevention goes, this is a glaring case of false advertising and pandering to people's fears to sell them unnecessary gimmicks.
Jkanda
This sounds like someone is eagerly anticipating an outbreak of leprosy or something. Softbank here is an idea for you: use these resources to help the government to curb crime and domestic violence.
Jkanda
Why not pick the salarymen for the experiment to monitor where they run away after work when their wives and kids wait for them at home? This will atleast prevent the pandemic of Jwives having to bring up their kids on their own.
sydenham
I kind of like the idea. It's a cool way to study pandemics, without an actual virus. Seems like everybody here has a bad case of knee-jerkitis.
Everybody, chillax. You're not going to feel a thing. heh heh heh
outofmydepth
i know - you just hold up the phone - like garlic to a vampire - and whoosh the virus is gone. this is nonsense - fools and their money. womanforwomen - that is idea has some merit.
Ari94
Again nonsense, are Softbank people DOCTOR? or is it another Money Game? do they know cell phones are also harmful? So they want to cure disease by giving new diseases.
Cell phone emit Electro Magnetic Frequency and there are also SAR, specific absorption rate in various countries. But in Japan they will not let you know the harm of cell phone.
mael
I'm appalled. Cell phones are harmful to humans and especially those who are young (thinner bones).
I am not all happy with being constantly tracked and my wherabouts known. Anyone with some computer savvy and a laptop could use the GPS to do any number of things I wouldn't like using the information of my location.
This to me is plainly Big Brother trying yet another way to get people tracked 24/7. Big Brother has done NOTHING which inspires trust in me and it is becoming clearer that GPS in cell phones are a step on the way to getting the population microchipped - like animals.
I have come to the opinion that cell phones are like cigarettes insomuch as in the future we will be having to deal with serious and debilitating illnesses caused by the electromagnetic pulses from this technology. - A technology I feel is potentially useful or even beneficial to our lives, but sadly made available to us in a form which is as harmful as it can be without awakening the ignorant masses.
cwhite
test it out on the politicians, police force, teachers and similar first.
XXXXX
The experiment was conceived before the current outbreak of swine flu
ye sure bout dat? Jeez why didnt Ishihara think of it first and implanted the tracking devices on all fureinors??
Stephen Jez
Something about a company knowing where you are at during any given moment of the day doesn’t sit well with me. That's some big brother stuff right there.
bobobolinski
It's hard to tell from a short AP article, but there are no epidemiologists or other real scientists quoted about this "experiment". All the quotes about how pandemics develop, and how this "experiment" would be useful, come from someone in Softbank's Infrastructure Strategy (ie, how can we sell more) department.
Crimsonsil
If you carry a normal cell phone people can track you over the internet anyway. There are plenty of free websites where you can just input a number and find out where a person is.