Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts

Monday, December 14, 2009

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 .......