This could replace dedicated systems like "I've fallen and I can't get up" Life Alert devices. Of course, there already is an Emergency button on the lock screen for calling 911 in the US, which is effectively the same method of getting assistance, so I'm not sure what is different about this implementation...
To add to those doubting the efficacy of this new system, I want to relay a secret I learned the hard way about those life alert necklaces. My mom collapsed and was not discovered in her house until the next day. She had such a necklace but never pushed the button. The EMT's told us that that's actually common; at least half the people with such an alert system don't use them, for a variety of reasons. In my mom's case she was suffering dementia from an infection so she didn't know she needed help. In other cases the users don't want to be a bother.
One wonders how many people in danger will actually use this new alert system.
A simple and possibly effective feature for india, and all the bigots are out in full force on the forum.
The impact of this on iphone or iphone users is minimal. The idea is to simply tie the emergency-location-police loop in an effective manner. Also, its use as a deterrent can't be underestimated. How inclined do you think a criminal would be to proceed further if he knows that the panic button has been pressed by the other party?
Would something like the 'Nirbhaya case' have happened with this feature? Probably not.
And all those people making comments about police etc. Please be aware real life is not like the movies. There are good cops, bad cops, diligent cops, lazy cops and all other kinds of cops. Police response in cities tends to be better than in rural areas, police response to rapes/murders tends to be better than politically involved issues. I think this feature is a good thought, if implemented well.
I'm not suggesting the US invade India, I'm suggesting Indian women band together and arm themselves against the predator-prey culture that is apparently widespread and still tolerated there.
The threat of dying if one (or many) attack a woman could prove an effective deterrent.
@SpamSandwich This chart compares Rape and Other Sexual assaults by country. Interesting where India is as compared to the US. Not sure if this means they are under-reported in India because of what we are lead to believe. I do suspect they are under-reported in all countries listed though.
Rapes are ALWAYS under-reported (they're still way under-reported in the US even at this much higher rate, 2/3 supposedly not reported), when they start to get reported (or taken seriously since police can just decide to not do anything), rates go up A LOT but still not close to actual.
I'd wager even France's rate is below the actual rate (I've spent about 15 months there around Lille and Paris (I'm a french Canadian) and misogyny is rampant. Italians are more aggressive about their misoginy. Anyone who thinks Italy and India's rates (or Russia) is real is a "funny" person. I also dated a Russian in the early 1990s and stayed in Kiev and later Moscow for nearly a year (Didn't help me learn Russian, still beyond horrible at it... Good thing I didn't need it to survive :-)
If you take reported rates, there is next to no rapes in the middle east or north Africa and I can tell you by talking to women there that this is PURE BULLSHIT (I'm a woman so I can get this kind of info, know a few people from school that have family in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon) and I have stayed over at their place). All of those countries have a substantial numbers of french speakers that's why those students wound up in Montreal with me.
Yeah, lived in a hell of a lot of place :-). I've been officially a resident/citizen of 5 countries and visited 70+. The place I've not visited at all is Non Maghreb Africa, very dangerous countries like Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have not been on my "list" (probably why I'm not keen about much of Africa, I'm more of a chicken than I seem), though I'd like to climb Kilimanjaro so that could change soon, Iran is also intriguing as I've got another school friend who is from there.
PS: Oui, français et passion ne font qu'un; c'est pourquoi mes opinions sont souvent tout feu tout flamme. Yes, french and passion go together; that's why my opinions are often full of flames and fury ;-).
There have been so many violent gang rapes in India. What a truly messed up place and failed 3rd world society. As for the statistics, so many are of course not reported, as is the case in many failed countries and backwards societies.
A panic button is not going to help much or solve anybody's situation.
How about a total re-education of their males?
When you have gang rapes taking place on public busses of all places, then there is obviously a vast problem with India having an over abundance of defective males, which in turn leads to a strong increase in violent, sexual animals roaming the streets and everywhere.
Mandatory castration should be part of the solution for all predators, and the death penalty should of course also apply in certain cases.
Indian women would be wise to arm themselves, or move to another culture/country.
There have been so many violent gang rapes in India. What a truly messed up place and failed 3rd world society. As for the statistics, so many are of course not reported, as is the case in many failed countries and backwards societies.
A panic button is not going to help much or solve anybody's situation.
How about a total re-education of their males?
When you have gang rapes taking place on public busses of all places, then there is obviously a vast problem with India having an over abundance of defective males, which in turn leads to a strong increase in violent, sexual animals roaming the streets and everywhere.
Mandatory castration should be part of the solution for all predators, and the death penalty should of course also apply in certain cases.
Indian women would be wise to arm themselves, or move to another culture/country.
While not necessarily a bad idea, re-educating 1.2 billion people there certainly would be a monumental, decades long task. Especially considering since they have a very low percentage of educated citizens as of today.
While not necessarily a bad idea, re-educating 1.2 billion people there certainly would be a monumental, decades long task. Especially considering since they have a very low percentage of educated citizens as of today.
You're right that it wouldn't exactly be an easy task.
I don't really see how else they would truly solve their problems. They could make one billion panic buttons and give them out, but what good would that do?
It's the same situation in Europe, where you recently have hordes of aggressive males coming from primitive cultures where women are equal to dirt and worth less than dogs, and mass rapes and mass sexual assaults are being committed all of the time by some of these males. Is anybody really surprised?
There have been so many violent gang rapes in India. What a truly messed up place and failed 3rd world society. As for the statistics, so many are of course not reported, as is the case in many failed countries and backwards societies.
A panic button is not going to help much or solve anybody's situation.
How about a total re-education of their males?
When you have gang rapes taking place on public busses of all places, then there is obviously a vast problem with India having an over abundance of defective males, which in turn leads to a strong increase in violent, sexual animals roaming the streets and everywhere.
Mandatory castration should be part of the solution for all predators, and the death penalty should of course also apply in certain cases.
Indian women would be wise to arm themselves, or move to another culture/country.
While not necessarily a bad idea, re-educating 1.2 billion people there certainly would be a monumental, decades long task. Especially considering since they have a very low percentage of educated citizens as of today.
This is why I believe it would be better to fix things via the justice system. If more men are being convicted and punished for this behaviour, then word will get out and people will educate themselves.
The problem of course is that, even in developed nations, men are rarely convicted for sexual assault. Either because women don't come forward due to fear or embarrassment, or because lawyers find all sorts of ways to make it seem like the woman wanted it to happen/gave consent (e.g. why did you go to a man's apartment if you didn't plan to have sex with him? why were you wearing those clothes? how much did you have to drink? don't you sleep with a lot of other men? etc, etc). So trying to reform the justice system in countries where women don't have many (if any) rights is a monumental task.
I'm not suggesting the US invade India, I'm suggesting Indian women band together and arm themselves against the predator-prey culture that is apparently widespread and still tolerated there.
The threat of dying if one (or many) attack a woman could prove an effective deterrent.
@SpamSandwich This chart compares Rape and Other Sexual assaults by country. Interesting where India is as compared to the US. Not sure if this means they are under-reported in India because of what we are lead to believe. I do suspect they are under-reported in all countries listed though.
re
Absolutely, Indian culture may prevent women from reporting the rape.
1. You ask about "death rate/100,000" and then point to a Wikipedia on firearm-related death rates. If not dishonest, at least clumsy (and not necessarily because it's Wikipedia).
2. Even "firearm-related death rate" isn't sufficient as it's not a simple number; it has several mostly-unrelated factors inherent in it, including: suicide, justifiable homicide, criminal homicide (including both murder and manslaughter), negligent homicide, accidental deaths, ...
3. Firearm-related death rates vary widely between countries, and even within a single country among various cultural groups or areas (according to StatsCan, for example, Canadian homicide rates per province are *higher* than for the state(s) adjacent to a given province, with one or two exceptions, NY state being one of them).
4. Even comparing firearm-related rates between countries is insufficient; counting total intentional homicide (homicide + suicide) rates is probably more useful. For example, using World Health Organization data for suicides, and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Study data for homicides (which both ignore regional/cultural variations in each country):
Nation Homicide Suicide Total rate (x/100,000) - U.S. 4.8 12.0 16.8 - Japan* 0.4 21.7 22.1 - India 3.4 10.5 13.9 - S. Korea* 0.9 31.7 32.6 - Greenland 19.2 108.1 127.3 - Mexico 22.7 4.0 26.7 - China 1.0 22.23 23.23 - Finland 2.2 16.8 19.0
* Very strict gun control laws in place; low criminal/accidental homicide, but suicide rates higher than U.S. homicide+suicide rates.
Dead is dead, the means are far less interesting than the intent; intent is much more important to deal with, since, as has been shown multiple times, in multiple countries by many studies, how someone chooses to end a life is less important than why they might choose to do the act.
I used to be pretty strongly pro gun control, until it became clear to me that "why" was far more important in dealing with the problem than "how". It looked to be so simple and clear, but it's a case of barking up the wrong tree.
How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
Most couldn't afford a gun if they saved every penny for several years.
You vastly over estimate the expense, given sufficient motivation. This is hardly modern technology you're talking about, not to mention the fact that a gun isn't going to spoil or evaporate; they're very durable goods, and simple to make and maintain. This is, of course, beside other related issues.
I used to be pretty strongly pro gun control, until it became clear to me that "why" was far more important in dealing with the problem than "how". It looked to be so simple and clear, but it's a case of barking up the wrong tree.
I think any rational person can understand that if there's a lower probability of a gun being present in a volatile and potentially violent situation, there's a lower probability of that situation ending in a fatality.
What a bunch of misinformed comments. I'd expected such crap from guys like Apple][, but expected better from other posters like Spam. Sad really. Makes me re-think wanting to come back to this forum.
Comments
YOUR PHOTO AND THIS LOCATION HAVE BEEN SENT TO THE POLICE!
This could possibly deter the intended action as well as alert other people nearby that the person needs assistance.
The impact of this on iphone or iphone users is minimal. The idea is to simply tie the emergency-location-police loop in an effective manner. Also, its use as a deterrent can't be underestimated. How inclined do you think a criminal would be to proceed further if he knows that the panic button has been pressed by the other party?
Would something like the 'Nirbhaya case' have happened with this feature? Probably not.
And all those people making comments about police etc. Please be aware real life is not like the movies. There are good cops, bad cops, diligent cops, lazy cops and all other kinds of cops. Police response in cities tends to be better than in rural areas, police response to rapes/murders tends to be better than politically involved issues. I think this feature is a good thought, if implemented well.
Wow I thought this sexist crap only flew in the U.S.
Men are 3x more likely to be victims of violent crimes but you know what? fu** men.
Rapes are ALWAYS under-reported (they're still way under-reported in the US even at this much higher rate, 2/3 supposedly not reported), when they start to get reported (or taken seriously since police can just decide to not do anything), rates go up A LOT but still not close to actual.
I'd wager even France's rate is below the actual rate (I've spent about 15 months there around Lille and Paris (I'm a french Canadian) and misogyny is rampant. Italians are more aggressive about their misoginy. Anyone who thinks Italy and India's rates (or Russia) is real is a "funny" person. I also dated a Russian in the early 1990s and stayed in Kiev and later Moscow for nearly a year (Didn't help me learn Russian, still beyond horrible at it... Good thing I didn't need it to survive :-)
If you take reported rates, there is next to no rapes in the middle east or north Africa and I can tell you by talking to women there that this is PURE BULLSHIT (I'm a woman so I can get this kind of info, know a few people from school that have family in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon) and I have stayed over at their place). All of those countries have a substantial numbers of french speakers that's why those students wound up in Montreal with me.
Yeah, lived in a hell of a lot of place :-). I've been officially a resident/citizen of 5 countries and visited 70+. The place I've not visited at all is Non Maghreb Africa, very dangerous countries like Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have not been on my "list" (probably why I'm not keen about much of Africa, I'm more of a chicken than I seem), though I'd like to climb Kilimanjaro so that could change soon, Iran is also intriguing as I've got another school friend who is from there.
PS:
Oui, français et passion ne font qu'un; c'est pourquoi mes opinions sont souvent tout feu tout flamme.
Yes, french and passion go together; that's why my opinions are often full of flames and fury ;-).
A panic button is not going to help much or solve anybody's situation.
How about a total re-education of their males?
When you have gang rapes taking place on public busses of all places, then there is obviously a vast problem with India having an over abundance of defective males, which in turn leads to a strong increase in violent, sexual animals roaming the streets and everywhere.
Mandatory castration should be part of the solution for all predators, and the death penalty should of course also apply in certain cases.
Indian women would be wise to arm themselves, or move to another culture/country.
I don't really see how else they would truly solve their problems. They could make one billion panic buttons and give them out, but what good would that do?
It's the same situation in Europe, where you recently have hordes of aggressive males coming from primitive cultures where women are equal to dirt and worth less than dogs, and mass rapes and mass sexual assaults are being committed all of the time by some of these males. Is anybody really surprised?
The problem of course is that, even in developed nations, men are rarely convicted for sexual assault. Either because women don't come forward due to fear or embarrassment, or because lawyers find all sorts of ways to make it seem like the woman wanted it to happen/gave consent (e.g. why did you go to a man's apartment if you didn't plan to have sex with him? why were you wearing those clothes? how much did you have to drink? don't you sleep with a lot of other men? etc, etc). So trying to reform the justice system in countries where women don't have many (if any) rights is a monumental task.
1. You ask about "death rate/100,000" and then point to a Wikipedia on firearm-related death rates. If not dishonest, at least clumsy (and not necessarily because it's Wikipedia).
2. Even "firearm-related death rate" isn't sufficient as it's not a simple number; it has several mostly-unrelated factors inherent in it, including: suicide, justifiable homicide, criminal homicide (including both murder and manslaughter), negligent homicide, accidental deaths, ...
3. Firearm-related death rates vary widely between countries, and even within a single country among various cultural groups or areas (according to StatsCan, for example, Canadian homicide rates per province are *higher* than for the state(s) adjacent to a given province, with one or two exceptions, NY state being one of them).
4. Even comparing firearm-related rates between countries is insufficient; counting total intentional homicide (homicide + suicide) rates is probably more useful. For example, using World Health Organization data for suicides, and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Study data for homicides (which both ignore regional/cultural variations in each country):
Nation Homicide Suicide Total rate (x/100,000)
- U.S. 4.8 12.0 16.8
- Japan* 0.4 21.7 22.1
- India 3.4 10.5 13.9
- S. Korea* 0.9 31.7 32.6
- Greenland 19.2 108.1 127.3
- Mexico 22.7 4.0 26.7
- China 1.0 22.23 23.23
- Finland 2.2 16.8 19.0
* Very strict gun control laws in place; low criminal/accidental homicide, but suicide rates higher than U.S. homicide+suicide rates.
Dead is dead, the means are far less interesting than the intent; intent is much more important to deal with, since, as has been shown multiple times, in multiple countries by many studies, how someone chooses to end a life is less important than why they might choose to do the act.
I used to be pretty strongly pro gun control, until it became clear to me that "why" was far more important in dealing with the problem than "how". It looked to be so simple and clear, but it's a case of barking up the wrong tree.
Back to lurking mode...
You vastly over estimate the expense, given sufficient motivation. This is hardly modern technology you're talking about, not to mention the fact that a gun isn't going to spoil or evaporate; they're very durable goods, and simple to make and maintain. This is, of course, beside other related issues.
What a bunch of misinformed comments. I'd expected such crap from guys like Apple][, but expected better from other posters like Spam. Sad really. Makes me re-think wanting to come back to this forum.