On: Super-Accurate GPS Chips Coming to Smartphones in ...

[msiebuhr]

Copenhagen Suborbitals has a blog-post about those limits:

  By default all GPS units have some built-in limits (so-called COCOM
  limits) that prevents them from providing any data if the velocity
  exceeds 515 m/s at altitudes above 18 km. These artificial limits are
  built into GPS receivers to prevent bad guys from using them in
  missiles and other nasty stuff.

... and proceed to figure out a way around ...

https://copenhagensuborbitals.com/gps-without-limits/

[ricardobeat → msiebuhr]

Please don't use code blocks for quoting, makes it incredibly hard to read on mobile.

[megous → msiebuhr]

> to prevent bad guys from using them in missiles and other nasty stuff

I was confused. So here's a translation: Bad guys = US enemies or non-allies. Not bad guys in any moral sense.

[TeMPOraL → megous]

More like parties that are not technologically advanced nation states. Russia has its own satellites, China will find 10 ways around the problem, but a few random dudes won't be able to DIY a cruise missile with cheap parts that would be precise enough to be dangerous.

Or at least that's how I always understood it.

[nradov → TeMPOraL]

Actually civilian GPS would work fine in low-cost cruise missiles because they fly relatively low and slow. The restrictions are to protect against ballistic missiles.