Sensor Networks For Surveillance And Security

gpmap writes "Small Times has an article on the coming age of all-pervasive sensor networks that will feed information of all sorts to monitoring networks. Technology advances have generated intense interest in sensor networks: 'the magic words are surveillance and security.' The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) hosted the second Information Processing in Sensor Networks workshop this week amid anticipation of significant funding grants from the National Science Foundation. Most believe miniaturization, whether through conventional methods, MEMS or nanotech, will drive the spread of sensor networks. But plenty of issues need working through, on the hardware, software and social fronts."

Comments

an example

[Anonymous Coward]

Just read "Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson, it features a nice version of nanotech-sensornetworks. It's a good book, too.

A downside to the Information Age.

[mcrbids]

In two words: Information leaks.

It's been demonstrated that you can predict, to a high degree of likelyhood, when a military strike is about to happen by counting how many pizzas are delivered to the Pentagon.

It's somewhat like the before-mentioned leaky abstraction concept, but applied to information.

It's going to get alot worse long before it gets better. Those who believe that true privacy is possible in the future are delusional.

For a well though-out article on the subject, try reading this Wired article that

Read David Brin's "The Transparent Society"

[Anonymous Coward]

Use of pervasive sensor networks by governmental and corporate organizations is inevitable (it's appearing in increments everyday in the US). The crucial difference between Big Brother and Transparency is who has access to the raw imagery / sensor data and the processed information. See David Brin's site for more information.

Re:I hope this scares you.

[delete]

Sorry, but you have really displayed complete ignorance of the topic in question. Of course, as soon as anything mildly related to privacy is posted here, immediate paranoia sets in. Sensor networks have a very broad range of applications, from monitoring temperatures in chemical engineering experiments to collecting ecosystem data. Enhanced security services are only one possible use for the technology, and a fairly mundane one at that.

A common argument used here against legal acts such as the DMCA is that they unfairly blame the technology rather than those who misuse it. I don't see how your comment is any different. Personally I believe that sensor networks will provide many research opportunities and genuinely useful applications in the next few years. If organisations misuse one aspect of the technology for surveilance, then obviously those responsible should be held accountable. However, branding an entire field of research as being "unacceptable" is not particularly acceptable either.

Think how great this would be...

[Glock27]

The government could know just about everything about you and what you do.

We could root out all the criminals, misfits, homeless, and other undesirables.

We could create a new service under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security.

We'll call it the S.S., and it can use double lightning bolts for its insignia. Wouldn't that be lovely?

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin