Comment by jeroenhd
13 hours ago
American carriers have a different protocol than the EU. The EU (and probably EU derived networks) uses a """secret""" SMS format that's opt-in, but the 911 system works differently.
The 911 feature can be activated fully remotely, the 112 feature is supposed to only activate when dialing an emergency number.
The US one is called E911: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_911
>The 911 feature can be activated fully remotely
Source? Even if the phone isn't actively doing a 911 call?
GP likely means any 911 call automatically has geo tracing.
>The dispatcher's computer receives information from the telephone company about the physical address (for landlines) or geographic coordinates (for wireless) of the caller.
Wait wait, so if I know the "secret" SMS format I can text someone's phone and get their coordinates back?
No, the SMS is initiated by the device upon calling emergency, not requested by the emergency service. The standard is called AML.
The format is not secret either, it's just binary encoded.
Ahh OK, well that just sounds reasonable.