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Baltimore to Test Cell Phone Traffic Monitoring

Momoru writes "The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a Canadian company, Delcan NET, will begin testing a technology that determines the flow of automobile traffic by monitoring cell phone traffic. The company promises a revolutionary way to determine backups, but privacy advocates fear the implications of a third party tracking users by their cell phones."

29 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. First TRIPLICATE!!! by RKBA · · Score: 5, Informative

    *Ahem*

    TRIPLICATE!!!

    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/07 45248&tid=126&tid=215&tid=158

    Note: Yes, I reported this a few minutes ago.

    1. Re:First TRIPLICATE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And Digg only managed to post this once.

      The sound you hear is the sound of advertisers running from Slashdot to Digg.

    2. Re:First TRIPLICATE!!! by xouumalperxe · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, since "duplicate" boils into "dupe", I'd have to say that short for triplicate would be "tripe".

    3. Re:First TRIPLICATE!!! by ff1324 · · Score: 4, Funny

      RIGHT HAND: Hi there, left hand how are you?
      LEFT HAND: Oh, hello there, what's your name?
      RIGHT HAND: My name is Right Hand. What are you doing?
      LEFT HAND: I'm making Cell Phone Traffic Tracking Articles. Are doing something, too?
      RIGHT HAND: Well, yes I am. I'm making Cell Phone Traffic Tracking Articles, too. I sure wish I knew what you were up to.
      THIRD HAND: Hi guys, I'm bushed...I've been making Cell Phone Traffic Tracking Articles since dawn.
      LEFT HAND: Well, it's another day of working for Slashdot. Let's get back to work.

    4. Re:First TRIPLICATE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
      Let me be the first to put this in an elegant six-article list:

  2. Dupe by kryten_nl · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Your kidding, right? You must be.... Please tell me your kidding....
    OMFG, I think he's serious....

    --
    For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
  3. What? by lewiz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is amazing. Normally I'd just ignore a duplicate (or triplicate by the looks of it) but I'm amazed it can happen with just one article sandwiched in between.
    Bizarre.

    1. Re:What? by slavemowgli · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This was posted by CowboyNeal, though, while the last article was posted by Zonk. Surely you don't expect the editors to actually read Slashdot instead of mechanically clicking on "Publish"?

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
  4. Cause by Kohath · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know what's causing all these dupes?

    Hyperthreading.

    1. Re:Cause by scubacuda · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yep, it's obviously affecting the editors' performance.

  5. hmmm.... by Malor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, this IS pretty important. Maybe they'll post it once per affected phone.

  6. Karma whore potential by dada21 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Make sure you go and copy all the +5 comments into this thread, get your Karma up to 'Excellent'

  7. SLASHDOT TO TEST DUPE MONITORING by krbvroc1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot unveiled a program to detect article dupes. A Slashdot spokesman, Mr. C. Taco, said "Our dupe detection system has been running for over a year without a dupe".
    We will soon begin fullscale deployment of a system in YRO that will mine posting data to determine whether an article is a dupe. As long as a user's computer is turned on, the slashdot network notes the time of articles from user to user to calculate the location and speed of posting. Researchers say the program will reduce dupes by quickly rejecting articles. The company says they will not track the articles of individual posters. However, a staff attorney for the XYZ says that tracking might violate federal law and 'increases the chances that information will be used for more invasive purposes in the future.'

  8. Dear Cowboy Neal by RealBeanDip · · Score: 4, Funny

    There is this awesome site called Slashdot, http://slashdot.org/ - I think you'll like it. Check it out sometime before posting news to your site.

    --

    You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.

  9. Your all -1 offtopic by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    3 dupes - so fucking what. You're not paying for it. You ought to be bitching about the article registration like usual.

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    Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
  10. I submitted this with a funnier headline... by sparkes · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but it doesn't matter it'll be posted sometime today ;-)

    --
    grab some geek gear at http://nerd.ws

  11. CowboyNeal... by GoombaJones · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..are you a script? Maybe he is and they're just conducting some sort of a Turing Test... Oh, and "mumble" was the word I had to type in to pass _my_ Turing Test as AC. How appropriate.:)

  12. NEXT ARTICLE... by krbvroc1 · · Score: 4, Funny
    The next Slashdot story about Baltimore Testing Cell Phone Traffic will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!

    http://slashdot.org/subscribe.pl

  13. Deja Vu by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Funny

    It happens when they change something.

    ---

    Thus it is now a fact that the Matrix has us and Cmdr. Taco is the Agent.

  14. Yea dude by TubeSteak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yea dude, I heard about it on digg.com first.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  15. Suggestion by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Honestly, maybe some things are worth being discussed 2-3-4-5 times, so how about introducing a new feature on /. - a pinned story? A story like that would just stay pinned on the front page for a while, and the newer articles would scroll below it.

  16. An open letter to the Managment... by One+Childish+N00b · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hey, Editors!

    I love this site, I love the discussions that the comments generate and I enjoy this community being one of the places (other than IRC) where technically-minded people can come together - hell, even some of the trolls are pretty damn funny, and I'm not usually one to join in the crowd of people screaming 'Dupe!' every time you repost an article from the previous week or day - I don't always get a chance to check /. everyday and so if something gets reposted I often haven't noticed the original and still enjoy reading it, and I don't see why dupes attract so much of the screaming masses to deride you.

    However, two on the front page, with only one article seperating them, no less, is utterly rediculous - that'd be like the TV news reporting on the same thing, with the same content, but with a different correspondant - it's not professional, and it'd be pretty poor even for an amateur setup - an analogy would be it's OK for the same announcement to be on two days in a row, but two in the same bulletin is sloppy and unprofessional. It's even below the standard of your average LiveJournal blogger, and it's certainly put a doubt in my mind over my decision to treat myself to a /. subscription for Christmas - while this isn't quite 'you lost yourself a customer', those few beers I'd buy instead of a subscription are now looking that much more tempting...

    --
    Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
  17. GOOGLE NEWS GETS SLASH DUPED! by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone want to guess what the top two Google news hits for Cell Traffic are at the moment?

    Results 1 - 10 of about 2,810 for cell traffic. (0.16 seconds)

    Cell Phones to Monitor Traffic Flow
    Slashdot - 3 hours ago
    determine traffic conditions such as jams and slowdowns. As long as a user's phone is turned on, the cellphone network notes the time of handoffs from cell to
    Cell phone data tracing traffic in Md. Baltimore Sun
    all 3 related

    Baltimore to Test Cell Phone Traffic Monitoring
    Slashdot - 1 hour ago
    reporting that a Canadian company, Delcan NET, will begin testing a technology that determines the flow of automobile traffic by monitoring cell phone traffic.


    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  18. CowboyNeal's morning by nbahi15 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know maybe CowboyNeal just sat down with bagel and coffee, and wanted to feel productive before doing some amazon.com christmas shopping. So he sees a nifty article on cell phone traffic monitoring, and says hey this is a good article let's post it. But oh wait?! I should check for dupes.


    DING-DONG!


    Must be UPS or FedEx. COMING! Wow my shipment of shirts from ThinkGeek are here. Tears open box. Decides to try on the shirt.


    Then suddenly the cat strolls in and decides to step on the mouse. Accidentally submitting the duplicate post. So really we should blame the cat.

  19. Funny, that. by 6Yankee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ever wonder why I don't pay for it?

    When I see something worth paying for, I'll pay. Until then, they can whistle for my subscription money (and my ad revenue - blocked those too).

  20. Woah! by numbware · · Score: 2, Funny
    I heard they were doing the same thing in Baltimore just a while ago.

    Oh wait...

    --
    I'm going to go create my own technology news site, with blackjack and hookers. You know what? Forget the news site.
  21. CalTrans (california) is already doing this. by natrik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    CalTrans already has a very complicated, however effective, publicly viewable system which, if you read their main page lists "motorist cellular calls" as one of the many sources of information. I was alerted to this site by a vigilant friend concerned about his motorist calls made in and north of L.A. and there may have been some outbursts against this policy, but I know of none.

    If you have a secret to tell, meet in person, and whisper. --Tom Clancy

    Jeez!