App Could Aid Migrant (and Illegal) Workers Crossing the U.S. Border
Cell phones -- and for that matter, app-enabled smartphones -- have typically been aimed at the middle class, containing software designed to help balance meeting agendas, check a flight's status, and the like. But what about the potential for cell phone apps to help a notoriously under-served section of the population?Well, there's an app for that. The 'Transborder Immigrant Tool,' which is currently in development, aims to aid illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. This month, the app's creator Ricardo Dominguez, who works in the Visual Arts department at the University of California - San Diego, did a long interview with Vice Magazine, in which he spelled out the purpose of this potentially illegal software and the probable public anger it will cause:
"I would imagine [anti-immigration militias] won't be too happy with us, but again we're not trying to hide. It's a safety tool. It's not trying to resolve the political anxieties of these communities or resolve the inadequacies of a fictional border for a so-called free-trade community. Again, our position is that it's not a political resolution; it's a safety tool. That, at the core, is what we're attempting to do."Using the cheapest cell phones possible (specifically the under-$30 Motorola i455, which comes with a GPS applet), Dominguez and his team were able to create a hack that added navigation functionality and the ability to locate water and highways. Although the app is still only in the alpha phase of development, Dominguez hopes to roll it out soon.
Read the whole interview for more information, and be sure to leave your thoughts on this in the comments section. [From: Vice Magazine, via: BoingBoing]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Patricia Reynertson said 5:14PM on 11-19-2009
You jackass- we're not anti-immigration- we're anti-ILLEGAL immigration. I hope you go to jail for this. Or- alternatively- your app lets the feds arrest the ILLEGALS as they steal into this country more easily.
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roadruts said 12:04AM on 11-20-2009
after Obama shoves healthcare up our a$$ then will come cap and trade, and more taxes, which he promised not one more dime in taxes, then they are going to try to make the 20 million or so illegals legal with amnesty, then they can bring their families here too, come on people aren't most of you tired of Obama and his crap, his arrogance, his bowing to world leaders that shouldn't be bowed to, his general attitude that we want his Obamacare, when we don't, his attitude that he knows what is best for us. I know what if Obamacare is so good then why don't Nancy Pelosi and UpChuck Schumer, Harry Reid, and the rest of congress, why if this healthcare so good, why don't they sign themselves up for it ?? I would like an HONEST answer, that's going to be hard for them.
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Gipionocheiyort said 9:53AM on 11-20-2009
Dude turn off the Limbaugh...it's eating your brain.
What did any of your rant have to do with the article?
Leila Brillson said 11:40AM on 11-20-2009
I, for one, actually want Obamacare. So, you know, count me out.
drakenfly said 5:25AM on 11-26-2009
If it can be used to "track things" then it can be tracked, it works both ways. You openly support illegal immigration to this country with this software. If I'm correct it's not local law but a federal violation in using software as a means of helping illegal aliens entering a country illegally and can be seen a espionage against the U.S. government. Wanna help people? Go to Mexico's southern border and help them cross if you aren't shot in the back of the head for doing it... Foreigners who are deported from Mexico and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years....Also need to check Title 17 of the U.S. Code about copy right infringement which can be a fine up to $250,000 or given a jail term of up to five years, or both. Imagine military would be just as interested as well since it can help illegals, as well as individuals their fighting against, such as terrorists, can use this against our own military which brings in the espionage part of it...oops did I give someone in the NSA an excuse to investigate?
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herveyperez said 10:44AM on 12-01-2009
I hope an illegal criminal alien ur application help into this country moves in next to u or ur family and show u exactly what u helped achieve. U deserve to be in jail for aiding and abettng. U want to help someone help ur own country u betray. Typical that people like u cause harm to the very countr that educated you and put food on ur table.
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