Mobile App To Lead Illegal Immigrants To Safety, Spark Huge Debate

[Are_grits_groceries]

At first glance, we got the wrong idea about this story. It sounded as if a pair of University of California, San Diego professors were cooking up a mobile phone app that would actually assist in the illegal crossing of the US border by Mexican citizens, but in fact, their work is far different than what you may believe.

The two professors have been designed a dumbed-down GPS and mapping application that could be installed and used on bottom-end phones worth around $30 or $45. They're also being forced to include support for Spanish for obvious reasons, and it seems that their goal here is to help illegal immigrants find shelter, water or a way back once they make it to America.

Many immigrants don't understand just how brutal the terrain becomes once they cross over, and many die each year searching for basic goods like water. This application would theoretically be used to help those in need find such basic rations until they could be sent back to Mexico, but there is already quite a bit of back-and-forth over the legitimacy of such a program.

Some say that having this option across the border will encourage more Mexican citizens to attempt to passage, knowing that if they fail, an application can lead them to safety. Others say that this helps America's humanitarian efforts. It's a double-edged sword no matter how you look at it. If the two professors have their way, the application will be deployed as early as next summer, but it's still unclear exactly how it will be distributed. Even if it does go through, the phones can only last around 2 hours with GPS enabled, so it's obviously only for emergency use.
http://hothardware.com/News/Mobile-App-To-Lead-Illegal-Immigrants-To-Safety-Spark-Huge-Debate/

If somebody can translate technology info for the Rethugs, they will be all over this.