Using Apps To 'Soft Control' People's Movements 71
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the achievement-unlocked dept.
from the achievement-unlocked dept.
pinguin-geek writes "Computer science researchers at Northwestern University have developed a way to exert limited control on how people move, pushing them out of their regular travel patterns. The key: tapping into some of their cell phone applications. The findings could elicit a broader range of user-collected data by driving foot traffic to under-utilized areas."
This is not about controlling people (Score:4, Insightful)
Privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
“Obviously users need to know where their data is going,” he said, “and we take every measure to protect user privacy.”
Yet another phrase that has lost all meaning.
Warning: Article not nearly as cool as it sounds (Score:4, Insightful)
The control exerted is obvious, not particularly forceful, and not particularly new. All the researchers have found is that some people will go a small distance out of their way in order to fulfil an objective in a mobile game. Somewhere, there's a guy in an advertising agency who's laughing his head off at their amateur discoveries.
Covertly transferring images from your phone (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no problem with a game like this if the makers of the game were up front about it. I'd probably even play. Sounds fun. See new areas, get out in the world, get some sun and exercise, and get some cool pictures and points to boot. All the while, you're helping someone make 3-d models of real world things. Seems like a win all around.
But you secretly snap pictures with my phone and upload them to a server? No way. No fucking way.
Re:Covertly transferring images from your phone (Score:3, Insightful)
Yet another idea from "The Skills of Xanadu" (Score:4, Insightful)
by Theodore Sturegon from the 1950s: http://books.google.com/books?id=wpuJQrxHZXAC&pg=PA51&lpg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false [google.com]
He also envisioned in that story the internet, wireless mobile computing, a gift economy, groupware, nanotechnology, the open source movement, an abundance outlook on life, and more...