Cell Phone to act as canary?

photo credit: Cell Phone Canary

New technology looms in the near future that will enable your cell phone to detect toxic gas and air quality. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specifically, its Science and Technology Directorate division, wants to create 40 new prototypes of cell phones by the end of the year that would detect airborne toxic chemicals.

Cell Phone to act as canary?

The new technology, dubbed “Cell-All,” would use a small chip embedded in the phone that would detect toxic chemicals in the air while a user goes about his or her normal activities. (This reminds me of the miners taking a canary into the mines to detect toxic gases inside.) Depending upon what it detects, the cell phone user would get an alert of some kind like a buzz or vibration to tell them to get the hell out of Dodge. The phone would also send an alert using the GPS system to a centralized service to report its findings. The reporting center would then tabulate all the reports from the area before calling in the National Guard, eliminating false panic and mayhem.

Qualcomm, NASA, and Rhevision Technology are working together to test the principal. Homeland Security’s Science and Technology arm is actively engaging the “big four” cell phone manufacturers, Qualcomm, LG, Apple, and Samsung with research and development agreements for the new technology.

It may still take years to get the technology out to public release. Thank goodness. Is anyone but me concerned with having a cell phone tied into a centralized reporting center at all times? I am more than a bit concerned about Big Brother and his long arms…

What about you? Is your fear of toxic chemical attack greater than the fear of Big Brother?