Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Tries To Charm EU With Future Visions
RedStar writes "BBC Online has a piece on Microsoft's visions of the future as shown to Euro MPs in a charm operation." From the article: "This is more a new concept than a new technology, and the real version may still be a year or two away. It would track the mobile phone signals of loved ones, then cross-reference which mobile cell they were in with pre-programmed locations, like the home, school, or workplace. Ms Sellen added: 'This is not very specific at all about where people are, and that's deliberate. We don't want to invade people's privacy too much, so we deliberately keep things very coarse grained.'"
So we are going to let an untrustworthy company (Microsoft), stalk our family members (hopefully trust worthy)?
I am happy that Microsoft has decided that they "don't want to invade people's privacy too much", just a little bit. Unfortunately, the 100000 people who hack the system the day after it comes out might not be so generous.
Am I the only one who thinks that some pedophile is going to hack into the system and then start snatching kids?
What are you eating? isItVeg?.
Wow, and we thought we needed tin-foil hats to protect ourselves from the CIA, now we just need to protect ourselves from M$. But why use tin-foil hats when we can upload the blaster worm and kill Big Brother?
NO~, I read Slashdot because I think it's stupid.....
mobile phone signals of loved ones
I really like that part, because Big Brother loves everyone. And everyone loves Big Brother. Straight from wikipedia:
The Ministry of Love
Newspeak: Miniluv.
The agency responsible for the identification, monitoring, arrest, and torture of dissidents, real or imagined.
please excuse my apathy
Hundreds of cameras? Last time I checked, London has hundreds of thousands of cameras
Instead we get some lame gadgets. What is so special about it that this should be shown to people that are supposed to be keeping MS on a short leash?
At best this is a non article about time wasters. At worsed(?) this is the EU being blinded by MS into giving up on its plans to call MS to order.
For some reason I am not to thrilled either about MS research projects. The company always promises a rosy future yet never seems able to deliver. Remember what NT4 was supposed to be? Windows ME? Windows XP? Longhorn/Vista? Exactly when are we getting that damn database like filesystem?
Oh well the MS fanboys should have a nice day.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Gee, look at the book "Mapping Hacks" Hack #61, "Build a Map of Local GSM Cells". You can do this already, load a little Java program into your kids phone, and you can track your own loved ones. Hack, if they try to get a patent on it, perhaps that book would help describe prior art.
de-commoditiz[ing] protocols & applications.... OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market.
Nor is MS the only company to use this strategy. The record companies with their SACD and DVD-audio formats (as if 24-bit audio weren't trivial to implement! O yeah, they're charging us customers for those despised copy protection methods.). Creative uses this strategy with their high-quality Audigy SoundBlaster ZS2 cards. The internal audio pin-header is not compatible with the standard format. Thus, I cannot connect the card to my case's front-panel audio inputs/outputs. If I want easy headphone access, I have to pay extra for a huge Creative-made bay & special connector. Creative will not succeed in their efforts, I surmise, despite their persistence; they don't have a strong enough hold on the sound-card market. I wouldn't buy from them again, unless the re-commoditize this protocol. As for MS & the record companies, they may be able to shove these formats down our throats. It certainly doesn't help that the mass of Americans are ignorant of these problems. And you can bet the MPAA can't wait for HD-DVD.
is probably the only reason why there isn't yet "security" demands for enabling a cellulars camera remotely. But in the meanwhile: Just imagine of all the fun they have tapping into voluntary video calls :) In all other respects than video surveillance we're way past Orwell's predictions from "1984". Chauchescu must be spinning in his grave over the lost opportunities; The poor old sod only got as far as to sample all the countrys typewriters. What an amateur. Tie the IP up to cellphones, track them and film the environment... now there's a precision tool for the professional peek-a-boo.
Throw in multiple reflections (the typical way your signal gets to you) and you don't have "tracking" in the sort of sense that GPS does - so stop going on about it a if it does.
s tory/0,10801,64057,00.html
Network positioning through triangulation and signal strength was good enough to locate phones to within 100 mteres using ad-hoc gear five years ago. http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/
With better equipment and techniques, there's no reason that couldn't be improved, and while it won't be pinpoint, it will be near enough to cause privacy concerns.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
[QUOTE]..or a criminal's worst nightmare.[/QUOTE]
Mr Criminal leaves the Cell phone at home, or turns it off, or blocks the signal. Hmmm there went your ability to track him. This will at best catch the extraordinarily stupid or crimes of passion. Both of which are pretty easy to catch right now.
LetterRip
How about making laws that forbid the use of public services to spy on people? How much money does it cost the phone company to keep track of everyone's position? All they really need to centralize is how much you owe them, which is currently based on airtime and how far you call. Building data pipes so they can sell the information to vendors like M$ is not just invasive, it's a waste of public money. That kind of gossip should be outlawed.
The M$ wherabouts clock has a default date of 1984. Instead of protecting people's privacy, my government is encouraging data collection of the most detailed sort so it can spy on normal citizens too. I'm disgusted with them all.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
How long until they add a feedback implant? Remotely "zap" someone when they to something you don't approve of. Fat husband goes into a Dunkin Donuts ... Zap! ... boyfriend goes into a porn shop ... ZAP! ... someone boots linux instead of Windows(tm)(C) ... ZZZZAAAAAAAAPPPPPP!!!!!!.
With the historic Microsoft security, you know someone will 0WN the whole thing within a week, applying continuous DOS Zaps.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.