Nowadays there are multiple live-streaming apps available (like Periscope and Livestream), with which it’s easy to share, in real-time, the finest moments of your life via social media. What if these live-streaming capabilities that your Smartphone has, can be used to save your life. That is the premise behind Parachute, an app that will contact preset emergency contacts and broadcast your location, audio and video to them by just one click.
What makes Parachute differentiate from other live-streaming app is that instead of streaming via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), the stream will be sent out to designated contact via e-mail and text messages. Besides that Parachute enables you to record discreetly by blacking out the screen while broadcasting and Parachute keeps track of your altitude.
In my believe Parachute can be game-changer in the emergency reporting business (which is basically the standard 911 at the moment). Especially if larger organisations or government institutions start working with this technology. It looks like Parachute is already going towards this directing within their latest updates, since they’ve launched the Parachute platform which opens up Parachute access to organisations. Organisations can add virtual hotlines, this lets users add the organisation as emergency contact. As an extra feature organisations can also route incidents to their own systems.
Of course there are also a few drawbacks of the app that have to be considered. For example the discreet recording function, this is an important feature if you don’t want the attacker to notice that you are streaming. However used in the wrong situations the discreet recording function can conflict with privacy of the people around you. Let’s say that instead of using Parachute as an emergency streaming app, it enables you to “secretly” stream private/sensitive situations to a group of friends or “partners in crime”. Besides the above mentioned possible drawback of the app, Parachute lowers the barrier of contacting emergency agencies. As “fake” 911 calls are already an issue, Parachute makes it now even more easy to call in for an emergency (which includes accidentally pressing the Parachute button on your phone). As there is a live video and audio stream send with the emergency call, it still means that it can take away valuable time and more pressure on the officers/families/etc. to judge if there is truly an emergency.
I believe there is great potential for Parachute as it uses more capabilities available in emergency situations and correctly used it can save lives. What do you think? Can live-streaming be a game changer in emergency situations or are there too many complications for it to actually work?
Thank you for the post, this is an inspiring thought.
I do see the value of having better access to emergency services. Video streaming of the accident could be game changing when emergency response teams get a picture of the situation before even arriving at the location.
Currently however the most important problem to be solved is for emergency services to find the location of the emergency. There is no standardized protocol to transfer the exact GPS location of a phone easily to the emergency service operator. Once this issue is solved you can implement video streaming.
The challenge to make this work is not a technology challenge anymore, it is more about creating a world wide standard on how to make this work.
Certainly a goal worth pursuing, that could add immense value to society.
Nice post. Theoretically, I do see advantages in this application. However, I also see some practical disadvantages.
First of all, I agree with the fact that the ‘discreet recording function’ would be helpful when you do not want the attacker to notice that you are streaming. But, I think that if you are really ‘attacked’ by someone, you do not have the chance to grab your phone. On the other hand, it may indeed be useful for a bystander. In addition, I also agree with the privacy concerns that you have pointed out.
Secondly, I would like to comment on the reaction of Julius Neu. He said that video streaming of the accident could be game changing when emergency response teams receive pictures or videos of the situation before arriving. First, I am not sure whether it is possible to directly contact emergency teams. Besides, if you think about this in practice, I believe this would not be a good idea. Imagine that you are involved in an accident. Would you appreciate it if someone would stand next to the road, filming everything? I think that you wouldn’t, because you would rather see this person trying to help you. Moreover, I believe that ‘emergency people’ are trained to act on the spot in any given situation, which makes live streaming unnecessary.
All in all, I do see some advantages in this app, but I think that this app would only be applicable in certain situations.