[datamingle]

"their business very much implies the termination of human life" .. you are assuming a perfect world where no other entity wants to harm human life. Also, GPS satellites were created for the military. They are fundamental for our daily lives around the world now.

[stefantalpalaru]

Don't forget how much better the GPS could have been without the military putting the breaks on civilian uses and competitors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_%28satellite_navigation...

[datamingle]

A free service to the world, paid for by American tax payers out of the military budget. Kind of hard to complain.

[stefantalpalaru]

I can complain because it prevented (or significantly delayed) much better services through some arm twisting and corruption paid for by American tax payers out of the military budget.

[datamingle]

Where is the corruption? Galileo (Euro planned system) was going to use the same frequency as GPS. So, during conflict areas the US could not jam Galileo without also affecting GPS. So the US military probably made plans on destroying satellites if it was determined that the enemy was using Galileo.

The Euro group decided instead to use another frequency than the GPS frequency. Now....

"Galileo will start offering first services from 2015.[11] Full completion of the 30-satellite Galileo system (24 operational and 6 active spares) is expected by 2020."

I fail to see any corruption.

[stefantalpalaru]

A different frequency means that all the existing GPS hardware won't work with the new network.

> I fail to see any corruption.

http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/221020...

http://www.itworld.com/article/2792924/data-center/secret-u-...

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/dec/08/world.internationa...

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1145904

[datamingle]

Yes, if you want to use a new network operator you would need to purchase new hardware for it. That happens all the time everywhere. I don't see the big problem.

All of those links do not point to any corruption. Budget overruns that are usual with large govt. contracts. And other links with hard negotiations with US officials over the already resolved issue with Galileo wanting to use the same frequency. They have already moved on to use another frequency.

[mikeash]

Selective Availability stopped in 2000. What alternative system would have been ready to go by then that was prevented from being ready by the actions of the US military? What entity would have paid for creating GPS if not the US military?

[stefantalpalaru]

They only stopped introducing errors in the signal after the threat of a competing system became real. The interests of US military are simply not aligned with those of civilians around the world. The sooner we get rid of our dependency on their technology, the better.

See what happened to the Internet. Because we kept relying on it, we're now all living in East Germany under the watchful eye of a new and improved STASI.

[mikeash]

Right, but the claim was that without the involvement of the US military, we'd have been better off. Which then means that either somebody else would have paid for a better GPS system, or that some other system would have been put up and operational by 2000. So, like I asked: which alternative system would have been ready by 2000 if not for the US military, or what other entity would have paid for GPS if not the US military?