Viewdle is a Two-Edged App
Saw this on Shlok’s site:
Viewdle – Photo and Video Face Tagging from Viewdle on Vimeo.
This kind of app is a required step for making augmented reality devices part of the social media ecology. Therefore, this tech will become a standard for all mobile devices – merchants and advertisers want us as an army of data collectors on each other.
OTOH, automatic face-recognition and social media aggregation raises serious concerns about the potential dangers of living under a panopticon state if an app is aggregating and bundling all your online data in real time, while giving out your GPS and home address. A godsend to stalkers, oppo researchers, con men, disgruntled spouses or employees, autocratic governments and other creepy malefactors. Expect businesses, which are already attempting to illegally pry and spy into all areas of employee’s lives, to make surreptitious use of apps of this nature
Puts the protests to revolution in Egypt and Tunisia in perspective, doesn’t it?
If the FCC wanted to do something useful and promoting of liberty, they might consider regs to let individuals exercise greater control the use third parties would have to their collective online IDs – then you could be “out there” or not or to the degree you liked. Some people, do want to be “out there” professional or social reasons. While you cannot control pictures of yourself in a public space, I’m not sure the Supreme Court thought that your presence in public meant that random strangers and government officials should be able to run your credit history as you sit at a table in a restaurant or bar or take in a movie or ball game by taking your photo. A similar logic underlies state laws prohibiting wiretapping or making auditory recording individuals without their knowledge and consent (Illinois being one such state where Chicago aldermen and state legislators have acquired a healthy fear of recording devices).
Speaking of government, I have been told by an authoritative source that the USG rsearch is far advanced in this area. Probably a lot further along than is Viewdle, but perhaps not.
February 20th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
[…] It’s riveting to follow the tweets on protests in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya or Iran on Mibazaar in real-time to be sure — but mash that capability up with the one Shloky found and Zen just mentioned here… […]
February 20th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
[…] It’s riveting to follow the tweets on protests in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya or Iran on Mibazaar in real-time to be sure — but mash that capability up with the one Shloky found and Zen just mentioned here… […]
February 20th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
[…] It’s riveting to follow the tweets on protests in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya or Iran on Mibazaar in real-time to be sure — but mash that capability up with the one Shloky found and Zen just mentioned with video… […]
February 20th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Dropped off of Facebook. Partly because of these sorts of concerns.
February 24th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Thanks for looking at this.
I would add, though, that in addition to opting out of the system, another essential feature must be total transparancy to the subject. In other words, I should have the right to know everyone who has data about me, what they have, and who they’ve shared it with.
It should be a felony with a high enough punishment for anyone doing this as a job to think twice about lying or withholding information that I request about myself.
I don’t have any faith in opt-in / opt-out systems. Do you remember the rash of stolen databases a few years ago? Millions and millions of people’s personal information was put on laptops, and then those laptops were stolen. I’m not sure if that problem has stopped, or if the media stopped reporting it, but no data is safe. At least we should be able to track it and verify it, in addition to have the ability to opt in / opt out.
February 25th, 2011 at 4:10 am
Hi Margaret,
.
" would add, though, that in addition to opting out of the system, another essential feature must be total transparancy to the subject. In other words, I should have the right to know everyone who has data about me, what they have, and who they’ve shared it with. "
.
Very good points. I think many of these data "thefts" are simply faked. The information in aggregate is a valuable commodity but it is not recognized as such, generally, the penalties are minor if caught vs. a modest fortune if illicitly sold.