DHS Funds Research To Turn Smart Phones Into Personal Security Devices

The Department of Homeland Security has gotten initial funding for research which could eventually turn your iPhone into a chemical detection device that would automatically call authorities when it senses a dangerous substance.

Called "Cell-All" it proposes to equip cell phones with a sensor capable of detecting deadly chemicals at minimal cost—to the manufacturer (a buck a sensor) and to your phone’s battery life. “Our goal is to create a lightweight, cost-effective, power-efficient solution,” says Stephen Dennis, Cell-All’s program manager.

The official DHS blog reports that Cell-All would be designed to regularly sniff the surrounding air for certain volatile chemical compounds. When a threat is sensed, your phone would use one of two alerts.  For personal safety issues such as a chlorine gas leak, a warning is sounded; the user could choose a vibration, noise, text message, or phone call. For catastrophes such as a sarin gas attack, details—including time, location, and the compound — are phoned to an emergency operations center.

While the first warning is beamed to individuals, the second warning works best with crowds. DHS says Cell-All is a major advancement in "crowdsourcing" human safety.

DHS contends that anywhere a chemical threat breaks out ... an airport, a mall, a bus, subway, or office ... Cell-All would alert the authorities automatically. Detection, identification, and notification all take place in less than 60 seconds. Because the data are delivered digitally, Cell-All reduces the chance of human error. And by activating alerts from many people at once, Cell-All avoids the problem of false positives. The end result, DHS says is that emergency responders can get to the scene sooner and cover a larger area—essentially anywhere people are—casting a wider net than stationary sensors can.

And, DHS says that Cell-All answers questions of privacy by operating only on an opt-in basis and transmitting data anonymously. “Privacy is as important as technology,” says Dennis. “After all, for Cell-All to succeed, people must be comfortable enough to turn it on in the first place.”

And when DHS and TSA say it's secure and private, you can take that to the bank.

Still, we wonder how far away can we be from smart phones which can report to our employers if we smoke in the stairwell, or be hacked on behalf of suspicious spouses to identify a brand of perfume? As someone we know used to say, "This is the United States of America ... anything's possible ... all it takes is money."

FMI: www.dhs.gov