A decisive clue that helped solving a murder case of two women, which has recently made Korean society turbulent, was found in the investigation on the calling list of mobile phones that two victims used. The calling list, which indicates local base stations that cover communication areas, showed moving routes of the victims. However, it is still limited in the aspect of accuracy and open information.

Since the advent of LBS (Location Based Service), felonies such as abduction and homicide have been often settled by chasing the location of victims. Privacy policy and inaccurate information, however, have been main obstacles to preventing these felonies.

To overcome these obstacles, mobile phone service providers have increasingly installed GPS (Global Positioning System) chip in mobile phones as well as extended the scope of LBS. The government is also moving forward to enact a bill that allows installing an emergency button in mobile phones, which directly connects users to rescue agencies. In this respect, LBS could be the best means to build social safety networks as well as to prevent crimes.

Installing GPS chip in mobile phones should be obligatory
However, LBS, which connects nation-widely spread local base stations and individual terminals through location-confirming servers, has faced the problem of accuracy and efficiency. It is difficult to expect a high rate of accuracy from LBS. Its scope of error could reach hundreds meters. Moreover, LBS does not operate in the place where local base stations do not cover.

Comparing to LBS, GPS dramatically reduces the scope of error to approximately 20 meters. However, the diffusion rate of GPS in personal mobile phones is still low and its receipt rate becomes low in dense building areas and indoors.

If these services are appropriately combined, however, the problem of accuracy and receipt will be improved.

Installing GPS chip in mobile phones has not been obligatory in Korea. For mobile phone service providers in the US, however, it has been obligatory since 2006. In Japan, providing location information has been obligatory for the third generation mobile service providers since April. In this respect, to make the adoption of GPS obligatory is a necessary step to build public safety networks in Korea.

In addition, the steep decline of GPS chip price from $300 in the late 90s, to $50 in 2004, to $5-$10 in 2007 and the downsizing of its size make possible to adopt GPS more easily.

Governmental supports are needed to overcome policy limitations
In building social safety networks, there are still problems of 'privacy' and the lack of government’s will for public safety remained.

For instance, if an original purchaser of mobile phone hands it over to another user, there is no way to prevent the original purchaser from chasing locations of the new user. And even though family members in a direct line ask location information of its member who may be in an emergency situation, the ambiguity of standard and system for open information make difficult to acquire location information.

Accordingly, governmental efforts are needed to incorporate location information, geographically scattered over various regions, build harmonious cooperation among government agencies, and enact some bills related with private information and copyrights.

As the other side of the coin, however, there are other problems such as the possibility of governmental control on privacy and the abuse of communication records by investigation agencies. Alternatives to solve these problems should be prepared as well.

LBS has far-reaching industrial effects on various communication services. It also creates added values. However, it is the time that the government should pay attentions to another aspect of LBS in order to build social safety networks to improve welfares for seniors as well as to prevent all sorts of crime, disasters, and missing children.