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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."

17 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 xouumalperxe · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    2. 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.

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

  2. 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.

  3. Cause by Kohath · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know what's causing all these dupes?

    Hyperthreading.

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

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

  5. 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'

  6. 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.'

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.