Saturday, April 2, 2011

State Department Builds A Panic Button App

Sorry I haven't blogged lately, I had to take care of some personal things.


Anyway, imagine you are a pro-democracy protester on the streets of a repressive government. You’ve got your cellphone and you are messaging your friends. In the crowd near you, the police start making arrests. Fearing the government will confiscate your phone and investigate your contacts, you push a “panic button” on your phone. It deletes the contacts in your address book and sends out an alert. Such an app wasn’t readily available so the U.S. State Department, acting as a venture capitalist, decided to build one.
The State Department tells TechCrunch government funded work is underway to build an Android version of this “panic button” app. No release date has been set. Another version designed to work on low-cost Nokia phones, more common in the developing world, is being considered. No iPhone app is planned for now.

Read more here
Posted by Spade at 5:07 PM
Labels: , , , , , ,

23 comments:

  1. shinobi_tnsApril 2, 2011 at 5:20 PM

    hmm sounds weird to me

    ReplyDelete
  2. SOMSApril 2, 2011 at 5:21 PM

    thats a great idea considering the current situation in the middle east

    ReplyDelete
  3. cocacolaclutchApril 2, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    This is a very interesting idea. Whenever they come out with one for the iPhone (which i'm sure will happen before too long), I'll probably get one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kboy71April 2, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    Lol why would the government need that.........

    /sarcasm

    ReplyDelete
  5. JayApril 2, 2011 at 6:03 PM

    should be useful...

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownApril 2, 2011 at 7:52 PM

    Ya know the government is so good at running things.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jared AguirreApril 2, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    ....well this will make Cops a lot more interesting. Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ArcitaApril 2, 2011 at 9:59 PM

    interesting post.

    following.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The EmancipatorApril 2, 2011 at 10:29 PM

    Maybe it sends all your contacts to another secret database. Who knows

    ReplyDelete
  10. Elliot MacLeod-MichaelApril 2, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    that is an awesome idea
    +followed

    ReplyDelete
  11. Clueless DolphinApril 2, 2011 at 11:50 PM

    interesting stuff bra

    ReplyDelete
  12. NopeApril 3, 2011 at 2:02 AM

    It would really be more useful if the application also included the functionality to back up your data on a computer beforehand for easy recovery if it's a false alarm.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ScottApril 3, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    Interest and it really would not be too difficult to create an app like this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. MichelangeloApril 3, 2011 at 10:52 AM

    Should be good to follow :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousApril 3, 2011 at 4:06 PM

    interesting idea, though why would the state department create that?

    ReplyDelete
  16. pezasiedApril 3, 2011 at 11:34 PM

    Hmmm, this is unique, not sure if id need it though

    ReplyDelete
  17. D22 ZoneApril 4, 2011 at 4:00 PM

    Great blog style! Keep this up! Good blogger!

    ReplyDelete
  18. 3DS-GamesApril 6, 2011 at 3:04 PM

    Interesting but couldn't the data be recovered anyways

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mike LitorisApril 6, 2011 at 3:42 PM

    great post. following!

    ReplyDelete
  20. TIFOTIApril 6, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    What will they think of next...

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousApril 6, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    sounds like a fail button lol.

    ReplyDelete
  22. TravisApril 6, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    I like the idea!
    Cheers and following!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Leo StahlApril 6, 2011 at 4:14 PM

    If the functionality was that you press the button and get a robot voice yelling "Alert" with flashing images on the screen I'd buy it for 59 pennies. I would have no interest in such an app that deletes my contact history, do they have any idea how long it takes to put the contacts back on the phone!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)