A phone application that threatens security
London: A cheap mobile phone application that can track the precise location of passenger buses on the road can be a serious terrorist threat, security experts have claimed and called for its immediate ban.
The Bus Finder AR application, developed by a British firm for the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android, allows users to point their phone at the road and see the direction, speed, and likely destination of passing buses.
It also shows the bus line, route number, departure point, destination and even the likely course-the features which could be used to target a bus with a rocket-propelled grenade, or to plot suicide bombings, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The programme, sold for just 1.79 pounds in the online Apple store, has now been labelled an ‘aid to terrorists’ by security experts and the US Department of Homeland Security is also examining how to protect airliners.
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After the September 11 attacks in America in 2001, a senior Federal Aviation Administration official warned that published bus schedules could be used by terrorists.
He wrote: “Revealing the identity and location of buses… would open the door for a terrorist to attack a specific bus or coach line.”
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Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, former chairman of the Parliamentary Counter Terrorism sub-committee, said: “Anything that makes it easier for our enemies to find targets is madness. The Government must look at outlawing the marketing of such equipment.”
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The firm claims more than 2,000 people have downloaded Bus Finder AR from iTunes since its launch last month.
