§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is the case, as recently reported in the press, that the Philips CARIN "car navigation system" is able to track a car in London from space via orbiting United States military satellites, and what this indicates about the capacity of the United States Administration for the industrial and other espionage activities in the United Kingdom with which the Central Intelligence Agency has recently been tasked, and whether they accept this situation.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey):Our understanding is that the Philips CARIN in-vehicle route guidance system can use the signals emitted by the beacons in two or more satellites in the US Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) to compute the location of a vehicle automatically and to give direction to the driver. However, no communication from the vehicle to the satellites is involved; so the latter 'know' nothing about the location of the vehicle. The CARIN system can also establish the vehicle's position by alternative means quite independent of the GPS. Other in-vehicle systems besides CARIN use GPS to help drivers establish their position. Yachtsmen and hikers pinpoint their positions by GPS and by other navigation devices.