The Maker has cited the decision by the US Government to offer GPS freely to the citizens of the world as a significantly overlooked nodal point in recent history. One might wonder why an entity with an existential prerogative to control its subjects would allow such a course of action.

Wonder no more:

quote:

In 1983, Soviet jet interceptors shot down a Korean Air civilian airliner carrying 269 passengers that had mistakenly entered Soviet airspace.

Because crew access to better navigational tools might have prevented the disaster, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive guaranteeing that GPS signals would be available at no charge to the world when the system became operational. The commercial market has grown steadily ever since.

Source.

Huh. Well I guess Reagan did a few things that make sense.

quote:

Originally posted by InfinityCircuit:
Huh. Well I guess Reagan did a few things that make sense.

You don't hang out with a genius like Bonzo for years without picking up a few things.

One of the major built in flaws (selective availability) with civilian GPS was in the elevation reading. I remember when a guy published the work around for the elevation error for handheld Magellans. About five years later under the Clinton administration the elevation error was taken out for the GPS surveying and other markets. I bet the military can still degrade GPS signal (horizontal and vertical readings) regionally (not globally) at will.

More on Selective Availability

SA

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