This is one of the awesomestest and scariestest technology demonstrations I've seen in a long while: Georgia Institute of Technology's students are using CCTV video to map actual vehicles and people into Google Earth. Why is this scary?
Right now, all the data displayed is anonymous, which makes up for a cool looking technology. You could see a football game in real time or the actual traffic in your route to work. Eventually, you will be able to see clouds moving, the weather changing, and even birds move in real time.
Now, put on your tin foil hat and imagine.
Imagine that someone is able to tag you in some way. In theory, it could be as easy as having access to one of the CCTV cameras and this system. You mark a car on the screen and, provided that you have enough cameras along the way, the technology would be able to follow the vehicle wherever it goes. In England, for example, this will be really easy to do, because there are CCTV cameras absolutely everywhere. And let's not talk about RFID tags.
From:
http://gizmodo.com/5371017/google-earth-will-track-cars-and-people-in-real-time
8 Comments
nibiyabiI would *quality but it's already rocketed up near the top -- should be just fine on its own.
PsychologicAwesome. I'd love to pull out an Android phone and look up the traffic patterns ahead during a trip.
As far as tracking people, there are much easier ways already. With the right access you can already track cell phones (easy way to keep up with your kids). I'm sure it will be very easy with tech like this, but it isn't exactly difficult now.
sme4rspeaking of Tinfoil Hats, check out Tinfoil Paint...
kronosposeidonSo much for my casual walks to the porn shop.
videosiftbannedmeI thought Will Wright already did this?
demon_ix^ kronos: http://xkcd.com/596/
XaxPretty impressive. And while it's easy to say tinfoil hats, if the technology is there, how long do you think the government would be able to resist utilizing it?
arghnesssays...>> ^Psychologic:
Awesome. I'd love to pull out an Android phone and look up the traffic patterns ahead during a trip.
As far as tracking people, there are much easier ways already. With the right access you can already track cell phones (easy way to keep up with your kids). I'm sure it will be very easy with tech like this, but it isn't exactly difficult now.
Actually, your Android phone probably already tells Google where you are, as do most phones running Google Maps. They use this information as part of the detection of traffic congestion on roads, apparently, which is already available to be viewed in Google Maps Mobile.
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