HARPER%ccvax.ucd.ie@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (04/11/90)
From: HARPER%ccvax.ucd.ie@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Does anyone know of a system called "Lojack" (spelling may be wrong) used in Massachusetts to track vehicles? I assume it has been developed from a militaryt prototype and I would be grateful if I could recive any further information on the system. Jerry Harper: Computer Science Dept.,University College Dublin, Dublin 4. email: harper@ccvax.ucd.ie
wdstarr@athena.mit.edu (William December Starr) (04/12/90)
From: wdstarr@athena.mit.edu (William December Starr) [mod.note: I'm posting this since it answers a question asked here. No followups, please, unless it can be tied into military topics. - Bill ] In article <15451@cbnews.ATT.COM>, HARPER%ccvax.ucd.ie@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU said: > Does anyone know of a system called "Lojack" (spelling may be wrong) > used in Massachusetts to track vehicles? I assume it has been > developed from a militaryt prototype and I would be grateful if I > could recive any further information on the system. I've got a Lo-Jack tracker in my Jeep. The way it works is pretty simple: if I report my car stolen, the police punch my vehiclke identification number (aka the serial number) into their magic computer, and it spits back the fact that I've got a Lo-Jack unit in my car. The cops then send out a message which causes a special radio signal to be transmitted all over the state of Massachusetts. When/if my Lo-Jack unit hears that signal it will start broadcasting a "here I am" signal of its own. Police cars equipped with the appropriate Lo-Jack-supplied equipment -- there's supposed to be at least one such police car in just about every police department in the state -- listen for that signal and home in on it. Obviously, all of the above requires a lot of cooperation from local law enforcement, which means convincing a lot of politicians that having all this equipment and procedure in place is (a) legal, (b) cost-effective, (c) a good idea, etc. The fact that Lo-Jack is a private company that's in this for the money has contributed to some political resistance to it, human nature being what it is. (It didn't help that there was a mini-scandal in Massachusetts when some public officials who were involved in the feasability studies of the proposed system bought some Lo-Jack stock cheap before the general public heard about it and made a tidy profit, most of which they were eventually forced to forfeit, I believe.) So far, I think that the Lo-Jack people have gotten their recovery nets installed only in Massachusetts and Florida, but I could be mistaken. As for your assumption that it was all developed from a military prototype, I have no idea. If you're curious enough to spend money on international postage or overseas phone calls, the pointer for Lo-Jack is: Lo-Jack Corporation 639 Granite Street Braintree, Massachusetts USA 02184-9990 telephone: (617) 848-8810