My Mobile Witness has a terrible name, but means well

A new service focused around the use of cell phones has been announced, it’s called “My Mobile Witness.” Upon first seeing the name, I immediately felt like I wanted to bash it for being some sort of invasion of privacy-enabling service. Turns out that isn’t the case. My Mobile Witness is actually what it calls “a personal security device.” It actually sounds a bit useful if not hard to anticipate when to use it.

The service works by the user taking a picture of the area they are in, a license plate, a suspicious person, or something similar. The picture (or text message) is uploaded to a server that is apparently only viewable by police. The situations the press release describe would prove the service to be useful: taking a picture of a street sign in an unfamiliar area, taking a picture of a marker on an unfamiliar hiking path during a storm, among others. The information, if used for a crime, can apparently be used in court as well.