OnStar Is Always Watching You

Even when you stop paying them.

Navigation-and-emergency-services company OnStar is notifying its six million account holders that it will keep a complete accounting of the speed and location of OnStar-equipped vehicles, even for drivers who discontinue monthly service. OnStar began e-mailing customers Monday about its update to the privacy policy, which grants OnStar the right to sell that GPS-derived data in an anonymized format. Adam Denison, a spokesman for the General Motors subsidiary, said OnStar does not currently sell customer data, but it reserves that right. He said both the new and old privacy policies allow OnStar to chronicle a vehicle’s every movement and its speed, though it’s not clear where that’s stated in the old policy.

It's a literal eye in the sky.

JetBlue Gets Dough For Fast Lane

Yesterday the feds gave over $4M to NYC-based JetBlue so that the airline can transition away from ground radar and towards using GPS for its flights from JFK to Florida and the Caribbean. The new system means JetBlue flights so equipped will be shorter and faster.

Years in the planning, the system known as NextGen is expected to deliver an unprecedented level of precision that the FAA says will relieve air traffic congestion, allow more direct routing on flights, reduce flight delays and promote fuel efficiency. "This is just good business, really, independent of the FAA investment," JetBlue Airways chief executive Dave Barger said Thursday. "I'll be delighted to make the rest of the investment."

All commercial aircraft are required to be on the new system by 2020.

CENTRAL Park: Lunch Delivery To Your Blanket Via iPhone GPS

Seven NYC restaurants have signed onto a delivery service that will find you anywhere in Central Park via an iPhone GPS app.

A new iPhone application for food delivery to the Manhattan oasis debuted Saturday, with Sheep Meadow sunbathers free to order a slice and Great Lawn Frisbee tossers liberated to call for chow mein. The app comes with a GPS add-on, allowing the runners carrying the meals to locate hungry customers anywhere in the 843-acre park. "The GPS thing is a little freaky - that people can track you down like that," said Annie Yano, 28, of the upper West Side. "But I like it. It's great they're using it for Central Park. It's so convenient." The CityMint app is free for download, and offers meals from seven restaurants near the park. The cost of delivery is free, too. Customers can pay with credit cards or cash, with food available from noon-7 p.m. on weekends through Labor Day.

The service is called CityMint. The company plans to add many more restaurants to its Central Park delivery list.

ZOMG! GPS Will Bring The Stormtroopers To Your Front Door!

Wingnutistan is up in arms (again!) because the 2010 Census will include GPS data for the front doors every American home. Via World Net Daily:

"GPS coordinates of your front door will make it easier for the government to monitor you. The U.S. Census Bureau is simply an excuse – a harmless looking means of obtaining the front door coordinates. The creation of GPS coordinates for front doors has nothing to do with the census, in all honesty, no matter how much the United States government tries to convince you that it does. The Obamites, thirsty to serve their new messianic figure, have lost enough of their objectivity to be willingly recruited into such an insidious program like gaining these coordinates for the U.S. government."

And then he took his Google Maps print-out and got into his GSP-equipped car to find the nearest titty bar.

WND readers respond:
-"Obama is really scaring me..swine flu outbreak..air force one incident..now he is tracking us to our front door?..i have a very bad feeling that we are in a lot of trouble and it's just starting..he wants to control the radio and internet..i fear for america and the american people..i don't think obama is as foolish as he wants everyone to believe..he has an agenda and he knows exactly what he's doing..i think he is more evil than anyone can imagine.."
-"Well, once they have the GPS coordinates for everybody in the USA then they just need to match that info up with Janet Napolean's list of the "domestic terrorist troublemakers" and voila! Properly programmed smart weapons can then be used to eliminate any opposition to Obummer's dictatorship."
-"They'll be wearing blue helmets, won't be able to read English or an American map, but they'll be marginally intelligent enough to follow GPS coordinates and read the number of 'anti-U.N./NWO Christian extremists' occupying the dwellings. Yes, they will kill me because I do plan to take a few with me. (but of course I will leave the 'coordinates' immediately with family at the first word of emergency or GPS aerial attack.)"