Semantic Web Under Suspicion

Dr Occult writes "Much of the talk at the 2006 World Wide Web conference has been about the technologies behind the so-called semantic web. The idea is to make the web intelligent by storing data such that it can be analyzed better by our machines, instead of the user having to sort and analyze the data from search engines. From the article: 'Big business, whose motto has always been time is money, is looking forward to the day when multiple sources of financial information can be cross-referenced to show market patterns almost instantly.' However, concern is also growing about the misuses of this intelligent web as an affront to privacy and security."

Comments

This is already in place, just not on the web.

[tinkertim]

I can think of at least a dozen chain drug stores who have a retail store evey 10 blocks in every major city in the country. Their sales are recorded centrally.

Hypothetically, if all of them decided it would be for the good of humanity to allow someone to examine their sales in real time as a whole to identify flu outbreaks early - then the process of doing that would not be too difficult.

UPS and Fed Ex track their packages in real time, know who sent them and who is receiving them and how much it weighs.

Data about us is being collected more than I'd care to think about, and I think its inevitable that it become centralized. We may be rapidly approaching a point where we decide what we want, privacy or technology. Having both doesn't seem like its a viable option for very much longer.

Re:Biz School

[Doc Ruby]

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