ICE - In Case of Emergency

The_Machine

Top trick, Trix! Never thought of just adding a zero. Thanks for that.

myrnahaz

My first ever post - wish me luck!

Has anyone heard that the ice thing is the first part of a virus? apparently (and this came to me from the communications department of a massive international company) entering the ice prefix into your system allows subsequent access by the virus - the virus searches for the ice entry and uses it to gain entry (sorry if i'm not clear, i'm not well-up on how viruses work). I've forwarded the email i received relating to this to Martin, i can forward it to someone else if this was wrong. Also, this seems more of a computer based problem than the one you're discussing, which relates to mobile phones.

myrnahaz

Further to my first ever post, this is the gist of the email i received :
This is thought to be phase 1 of a phone based virus that is laying a path for propagatinf very quickly, passing it on is part of the virus. The 2nd phase is where a program is sent as part of a ringtone download that goes into your address book and looks for something it recognises - you guessed it - the address book entry marked ice. It then sends itself to the ice list and charges you for the privilege.

I hope this explanation is clearer than my original post.

Former_MSE_Archna

Below are the results to our previous poll. Thanks to the 1206 participants who took part in this poll.
Previous Poll Topic: IN CASE OF EMERGENCY (ICE) The ICE campaign encourages people to store emergency contact details under ICE in their mobile's phone book. Have you done it yet?

Yes, done it already, I'm ICEd up. 49.8% - (601 Votes)
Not yet, but its on my to-do list. 34.6% - (418 Votes)
Not ever. 15.5% - (187 Votes)

Total Votes: 1206

worldtraveller

myrnahaz wrote:

My first ever post - wish me luck!

Has anyone heard that the ice thing is the first part of a virus? apparently (and this came to me from the communications department of a massive international company) entering the ice prefix into your system allows subsequent access by the virus - the virus searches for the ice entry and uses it to gain entry (sorry if i'm not clear, i'm not well-up on how viruses work). I've forwarded the email i received relating to this to Martin, i can forward it to someone else if this was wrong. Also, this seems more of a computer based problem than the one you're discussing, which relates to mobile phones.

Hi myrnahaz and congratulations on your first post. Please refer to my post #28 in this thread which relates to this email that you received.

Gillian_Anne

I have had an email from a friend (who sent me details of ICE) to say it is a hoax and it is for companies to download ringtones to your phone which you then pay for. I do not know how to check this out though!

John_Mackie

:eek: Sounds a good idea, but I will not participate. If my mobile is stolen, I wouldn't put it past the moron to use the ICE facility to make a bogus call ( for "fun" no doubt) to my next of kin announcing some disastrous happening.
John Mackie, Southampton.

roligan

While putting ICE in your phone is a good idea there are several issues
1) The phone might be locked
2) The phone might not be on you
3) Emergency personnel might not look in it
4) Emergency personnel might not know how to use the phone
5) Emergency personnel might not have the time

However, it is a certainty that emergency personnel will go thru your wallet to identify you. We have therefore launched a concept whereby you carry an ICE card in you wallet (size of credit card).

Due to the text on the card the emergency personnel will immediately look at the card. The card will have a local telephone number in each major country in the world and a unique ID number. Thus, there is no personal information on the card itself. In case of emergency ('ICE') the emergency personnel will call us (open 24/7). By the time the card is issued the cardholder has provided us with 4 next of kin ('NOK') contacts and vital medical information, doctor, donor info etc. etc. Once we have identified the caller as police, hospital etc. we will provide the caller with all the relevant information and contact NOK. In the UK it takes on average 5 hours and 51 minutes before NOK is contacted. We take that down to an average of 13 minutes. This card comes with all kinds of options like solo or family, domestic or international numbers, NOK and/or medical information.

Hopefully this will give people some comfort that vital medical information is available instantly and that NOK will be contacted immediately.