Well, most of the clients of this service are law enforcement. "The FBI is requesting permission to track your location, reply YES to allow"? Yeah, that's not going to happen.
But as I read the article, the location data is only at the resolution of which cell tower they're connected to. Doesn't 911 get better location info than that?
I'm not certain what the actual product uses, but the LocationSmart demo posted here last week had three data sourcing options: "[Cell Tower], AGPS, Best Available"
What if law enforcement knew? What if this was an intentional backdoor for law enforcement to abuse? I know, you can apply that on any vulnerability (what if X knew), "don't assume malice [...]", merely hypothetical but still.
But as I read the article, the location data is only at the resolution of which cell tower they're connected to. Doesn't 911 get better location info than that?