Should calamity strike, you can use the device to send a distress signal to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center, a search-and-rescue service that will coordinate with local authorities to send help your way.

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Mr. Stern was president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and is now a senior fellow at Columbia University's Richman Center.

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The questions about the initiative's privacy policies also apply to its role in surveying government networks, says Jim Lewis, a former foreign service official and director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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