Privacy is dead

So what's scary? The day when you can quickly point your smartphone at a person in the street and know within seconds that person's name and particulars may not be all that far off.

That's the logical consequence of a new technology called Google Goggles, being run out now by - who else? - Google. At the moment the technology is very much in its infancy, but the promise is that one day you will be able to upload an image - any image - and Google will be able to tell you loads of information about it. So someone will snap my face with their cellphone while I am walking down the street, upload it to Google, and within seconds know who I am and all about me. Think of the power that would give anyone trying to sell you something on the street, for instance; or a Mongrel Mob member who is acting as a none-too-subtle enforcer for a debt-collecting agency; or Inland Revenue agents tracking down payment defaulters; or .......