I'm quoted in another New Scientist article, this time about some interesting work performed
by
one of Boeing's research groups. It's a system that uses a combination of the Wifi and
Bluetooth
trace from your gadgets to plot where you've been, and then make predictions about where
you
will go next. Paul Marks calls it a "Pre-Social Network". But its timing - when privacy
invasions are
in the news every day - could have been better. The article is
online here.
I like New Scientist because they quote fairly. For those who want to know exactly what I
said
to Paul when he asked for a quote, it was this:
This seems like a very interesting piece of work. It is likely that this kind of
prediction
would be very accurate - people tend to follow regular patterns of behaviour, even walking
the
same routes each day. There is clearly a valuable aspect to generic and anonymised
predictions
like these, for they would allow us to ensure that the necessary computer resources are in
the
right places at the right times - so everyone would always have a good wifi signal for
example.
However there are clearly some major privacy issues. It does paint a slightly Orwellian
picture:
how would you feel if your future movements and even your future happenstance meetings
were
all predicted in advance by exploiting your previous patterns of movement? The police might
love
it as a way of predicting the movements of criminals (akin to Philip K Dick's "Minority
Report"), and
advertisers would love it as a way of tailoring adverts, but what if anyone could predict
exactly
where you will be and who you will be with? It's a stalker's dream!
Speaking personally, I am comfortable with the idea of the technology around me being
optimised for my personal usage - if I walk through the park each day I'd be pleased to have
wifi
access optimised for my usage as I walk. I'm uncomfortable with the idea that my
movements and
social interactions could be predicted, and that prediction could be available to anyone. If it
is
anonymised so that specific places become "hotspots" for meeting people with specific
interests
this may be better; although I question the need for computer predictions to enable this.
But what do I know? It would not surprise me if Google+ or facebook has this feature by
this
time next year...
Note I've been collaborating with Soo Ling Lim for some time on AppEco - a simulation
of mobile app ecosystems. Not quite the same motives, but we hope it will be very useful.
Keep an eye on: the AppEco website.
