Smartphone today have everything that we need in terms of daily technology usage. They are integrating into the lives of people intensely than before. This integration has touched the physical security of women in India. Indian government is making it a ‘must’ to have panic button in smartphones that release in India by 2017. How far this will be helpful to stay safe from attackers?
We have seen so many apps that help to track, alert and notify the dear ones in case of emergencies. Are all those apps successful in protecting women from disaster?
No! Not 100%. Mobile apps are nothing but software applications that need to be invoked by the person manually. User who might have set their smartphones to battery saving mode and low memory usage mode for better software utility on the device might not able to run the software automatically unless opened manually. Any software application takes a couple of seconds to start and initialize the services which is impossible to operate while they are being threatening. This stood as a barrier for giving the 100% throughput of the idea of building security apps.
Will Panic Button work now? Is it a good idea?
The software has failed and now its time to try the hardware part, that too from the government as compulsory unit. Placing a button dedicated for panic situations might not actually help women while facing the threat. The buttons of the smartphone get pressed sometimes unknowingly and that won’t do harm because we will be having the locked down. Having a panic button might raise false alarms to the dear ones and the police thereby increasing in the mis-utilization of the feature.
Smartphone companies even had to make separate units only for India that may effect the Indian mobile phone market to very extent. Decreased market may lead to increase prises due to demand which would turn out to be a side-effect of adding a panic button.
Software of hardware, no matter what, the victim should be able to reach the phone from her purse to raise the panic alarm. This functionality cannot be set to auto intelligence which may again lead to false alarms. Panic button might be a good idea but it won’t work out practically. Instead, Indian government better teach women and college girls the physical defensive techniques in the education curriculum.
What do you think? Please share you opinions on this in comments and help country find a solution.