The U.S. is trying to get its hooks on Europe's GPS...

This article by Jan Libbenga at the Register reports that the U.S. is trying to affect the accuracy of the forthcoming European GPS--Galileo.

Talks are underway between the US and the European Union to ensure that the [Galileo] navigation satellite system will operate with - not interfere with - the present U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). In practice this would mean the US can jam frequencies if desired (without consulting the Europeans first), but it also wants control over the accuracy of the system for security purposes, according to Tagesschau. This would be a serious blow to the $3.7 billion project, which is designed to deliver real-time positioning accuracy down to the metre range - unprecedented for a publicly-available system.

Galileo is planned to be a civilian-controlled service with a commercial aspect. In order to make the business case, Galileo needs to offer improvements that normal GPS users (the U.S.'s GPS, that is) don't currently have. One of those is resolution... improved resolution could mean a lot for innovation in GPS-mediated activity. The U.S. is so security concerned that I am starting to believe that innovation and scientific rationality are the "war on terror's" most profound casualties.

Posted by joebeone at Diciembre 1, 2003 09:12 AM