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A Guardian Angel In Your Cell Phone

Posted by kdawson on from the all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace dept.

theodp writes "Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie are listed as inventors of the Guardian Angel, which is described in a most unusual Microsoft patent application that should intrigue privacy advocates. In addition to protecting you from possibly diseased people, by detecting body temperatures, the Guardian Angel's 'monitoring component can take note of the number of conversations occurring in a room (and more specifically, a breakdown of the types of people in the room accompanied by a warning for dangerous persons, based on sex offender registration, FBI most wanted, etc.).' The versatile Guardian Angel, Microsoft notes, can also recommend restaurants, advise you on the appropriateness of your jokes, detect that your heartbeat has stopped, display targeted ads on billboards, and block spam."

61 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. WTF? by Divebus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we have to figure out how to block this too? Thanks Bill.

    --

    Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    1. Re:WTF? by dotancohen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Traditionally, the way to block devices this intrusive was to divorce them.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    2. Re:WTF? by dwywit · · Score: 4, Funny
      Imagine the possibilities for fun:

      1. design device to detect the 'guardian angel' in a roomful of people that you don't like

      2. broadcast subversive material in its vicinity

      3. profit!

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    3. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "WTF" was precisely the first thing that came into my head as I read the description. Are these guys for real?

    4. Re:WTF? by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Insightful

      [It can] detect that your heartbeat has stopped

      Oh thanks. And am I going to be conscious when it tells me that? Talk about BSOD!

      Nobody is going to be walking around with freakin' defibrillator pads on their chest and a Microsoft Guardian Angel in their pocket.

      --
      Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
    5. Re:WTF? by Divebus · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...broadcast device transfers encrypted information regarding the user to the plurality of other users and devices... further comprising:encrypting the information when communicated beyond the user; and verifying the authentication and authorization properties of recipients before communicating the information to the recipients Relax... it's just a Zune... so nobody will buy one anyway.

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    6. Re:WTF? by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, maybe Microsoft will have the defib pads in version 2?

      BSOD indeed! Just imagine how insistent Microsoft could get about validating the software?

      "User authorization failure. Your software license has expired or is an illegal copy. Please purchase a legitimate license immediately or your heart will be shut down."

    7. Re:WTF? by somersault · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nobody is going to be walking around with freakin' defibrillator pads on their chest and a Microsoft Guardian Angel in their pocket. Probably not, but at least your loved ones are going to get a nice ad for tombstones on the nearest billboard when you kick the bucket.
      --
      which is totally what she said
    8. Re:WTF? by donaldm · · Score: 4, Funny
      This is your "Guardian Angel"! I have detected your heartbeat has stopped. Would you like "zombie clippy" to:
      1. a. Recommend a cemetery were you can party with your new zombie friends. (Free service)
      2. b. Direct you to the nearest mall were you can dine on the finest brains. (Free service)
      3. c. Other undead services. (Charges do apply)
      :-)
      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    9. Re:WTF? by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Funny

      MS defib pads would only shock you.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    10. Re:WTF? by LKM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look at the bright side. Microsoft is too incompetent to implement something like this anyways, and the patent will prevent competent companies from implementing it. Thanks, Microsoft, from helping us avoid intrusive crap like this!

    11. Re:WTF? by Eudial · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ssh, it's listening. We'll talk in one of the pods where it can't hear us.

      It's open the pod bay door please HAL, all over again. An even better touch would be if the program sang Daisy Daisy when you disabled it. But somehow I don't expect such humor from Microsoft.

      --
      GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
  2. I call bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They wont even be able to do this within the 20 years the patent is valid.

    They should start with something simple like an OS that works.

    1. Re:I call bullshit by nick_davison · · Score: 4, Funny

      They wont even be able to do this within the 20 years the patent is valid.

      They should start with something simple like an OS that works. I think your first line answers your second.

      Windows 1.0 was launched 23 years ago, in 1985.

      MS-DOS wasn't too bad. But then they bought that one from Seattle Computer Products.
    2. Re:I call bullshit by Aranykai · · Score: 4, Funny

      Everyone knows wikipedia is run by a bunch of mac fanboys, so you really cant trust that information.

      Microsoft "Commissioned" MS-DOS, they didnt "Buy it". Everyone knows that.

      And Windows 11 will be coming out in 2010. Thats going to really kill Apple.

      --
      If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
    3. Re:I call bullshit by tricorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Seems sort of odd to be trying to patent something that clearly can't be made to work at the present time. I don't see why this would be patentable anyway, similar devices have certainly been described in various science fiction stories in sufficient detail to be "prior art".

    4. Re:I call bullshit by $random_var · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Maybe this is a preemptive patent, and they want to make sure this is un-patentable by anybody else 20 years down the road when we can actually build it. Sure, they could have just published a paper in a scientific journal, but patent examiners are lazy and prefer using patent filings as prior art.

    5. Re:I call bullshit by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seeing as how Windows already works on 90% of the machines in the world.

      What do you mean 90%? Can it run on a PowerPC architecture? No. ARM? Not really (Ok, Windows mobile probably can but its not as much Windows as a new OS similar to Windows). SPARC? Nope. Can (current versions XP/Vista) run on old hardware? Not very well.

      Can Linux work on almost any CPU architecture known to mankind? Yes. Can it run on old hardware on current versions? Yes. Is it as easy to attack as Windows? No. Can (and does) Linux run on many cell phones? Yes. UMPCs? Yes.

      To say that Windows works on 90% of devices (and implying that Linux or any other OS has only a marginal lead) is false. Even game consoles can run Linux, most cannot run Windows (natively).
      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    6. Re:I call bullshit by Arancaytar · · Score: 2, Funny

      If prior performance is any indication, then they won't be able to do that in 20 years either!

  3. oh good... by owlnation · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... Clippy in your ear, and in your pocket.

  4. Wait, what? by evanbd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It displays targetted ads on billboards *and* blocks spam? Aren't those mutually exclusive?

    1. Re:Wait, what? by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It displays targetted ads from paid advertisers on billboards *and* blocks ads from other unpaid advertisers

      Fixed that for them?

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
    2. Re:Wait, what? by v1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The initial knee-jerk reaction to this is that it's not going to reduce the spam I am exposed to. But then on further consideration, if I'm going to get spammed say, four times this morning, I'd rather they be at least slightly relevant to me. I don't need help with credit card debt, I'm not shopping for children's toys, and I don't want to buy a new car. If you must spam me, at least make it useful.

      Probably 90% of the adverts any given person is exposed to on a daily basis are a complete waste of their and the advertiser's time. (which is why email spam works, because it doesn't cost much to spam everybody)

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Re:Wait, what? by Mprx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only possible reason you could want more relevant spam is because you might buy spammed products. This encourages spammers and makes the internet a worse place for everybody.

    4. Re:Wait, what? by Kamokazi · · Score: 4, Funny

      That was a typo. It was supposed to say Spam (capital S). It invloves a plexiglass deflector for preventing globs of canned processed meat from hitting you.

      --
      As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable Slashdot 2.0.
    5. Re:Wait, what? by kunwon1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think you can blame people for buying a product that they found out about through spamvertisement, if it's something they wanted. What are you supposed to do? Look at the message and say "Gee actually I was thinking about buying one of those, that one looks perfect, but since they spamvertised it to me, I refuse to buy it." Sounds a little childish and stubborn.
      Sounds a little like voting with your wallet.
      --
      Specialization is for insects. -Heinlein
    6. Re:Wait, what? by whereiswaldo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't think you can blame people for buying a product that they found out about through spamvertisement, if it's something they wanted. What are you supposed to do? Look at the message and say "Gee actually I was thinking about buying one of those, that one looks perfect, but since they spamvertised it to me, I refuse to buy it." Sounds a little childish and stubborn.

      That depends on how you view spam. One way is that it is mind pollution. I try not to buy from companies that pollute excessively, and that would mean not buying products from companies that try and pollute my mind.

      SPAM is not so much a problem because of what it is, unsolicited advertisement, but because it's being used wrong. You get spammed when you watch TV. When you listen to the radio. When you drive your car down the road. As you walk through the isles in the store. It's everywhere. You can't just say that you're going to boycott every product you see spamvertised.

      Sure, assuming that TV and Radio advertisements are the gold standard. I think they are just as annoying as email spam and I avoid watching TV for the most part, and almost never listen to the radio because there is hardly any music on it anymore! There are better alternatives anyway, like renting a movie, watching shows on Joost which has very little advertising, or listening to music from my own collection.

      Here's the thing... if tomorrow it was announced that for the next 5 months no one was supposed to buy from spammers, and they followed through with this, the spammers would go out of business.

      Do you really think that's true? How much does it cost a spammer to stay in business? I belive it is very little - that's the economics of spam. Also, nailing spammers is like playing whack-a-mole: you get one and another pops up. So even if you did bankrupt many spammers in that 5 months, there would always be more to pick up where the others left off once people started responding to spams again.

      But since you can't make that many people change your ways, all you accomplish with your own private boycott is to inconvenience yourself.

      Possibly. However, don't underestimate the power of communication these days - it is easy for anyone to get in touch with thousands of people. Also keep in mind that not everyone's goal is to convince everyone else to do the same thing. I'm happy to do my part and if others who I tell share the same view then great. If not, it's still worth it to me to uphold my principles.

      It's like organizing a boycott in your town against WalMart because they are selling a brand of toy that's a choking hazard.

      I think that's a poor example. Can you imagine the bad press a store would get if they knowingly sold a toy that is a choking hazard? I think most stores are really responsible in that area.

  5. Exactly the problem with patents by Jimmy_B · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is certainly a neat concept. However, no one has made one - including the patenters. It won't be possible to make one until a lot of technologies have improved (especially battery technology).

    Since it's impossible to make, there can't be prior art. Since it's being patented before it *could* be made, it never will be made. This is a very common, very ridiculous occurrence.

    1. Re:Exactly the problem with patents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The following section of 35 U.S.C. states the requirements relating to enabling disclosures:

      35 U.S.C. 112 Specification.

      The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.

      In that case, and at least theoretically (i.e. the Examiner would have to catch it), the application could be rejected for not having an enabling disclosure. The idea behind the patent system is to only be able to get patents on inventions you provide an enabling disclosure for, in other words actually invented.

    2. Re:Exactly the problem with patents by Genda · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but this is simply ludicrous...

      By the premise of this patent, I could at this very moment patent every interesting idea I've ever read in a science fiction story. Give a full discription of the what, with a pitifully vague description of the how. Then as the technology became available to make it happen, I could fill in any of the 20 or 30 [And a miracle happens] type, blank spaces in my patent disclosure, until shebang, it's 2019 and I have now got a perfectly good patent back-dated to 2008, for technology that had only become viable as of 4:30PM Friday May 10, 2019...

      Okay let's see... I'm calling dibs on; The infinitly dense super light super compact battery, The faster than light transport engine, the direct neural link (good between people to people and people to machines), and the serum that provides perpetual youth. Y'all can take the rest.

  6. Bad jokes? by gruvmeister · · Score: 4, Funny

    The versatile Guardian Angel, Microsoft notes, can also recommend restaurants, advise you on the appropriateness of your jokes...
    So this thing will let me know when I'm surrounded by the type of people who will be offended by my telling of dead baby or titty-fuck jokes? Awesome.
    1. Re:Bad jokes? by edxwelch · · Score: 3, Funny

      > So this thing will let me know when I'm surrounded by the type of people who will > be offended by my telling of dead baby or titty-fuck jokes? Awesome.

      Yes, remeber back that time you met with the queen mother.. ?

  7. "detect that your heartbeat has stopped" by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Funny
    WTF? What happens then???
    • * "I'm sorry, you appear to have died. The license for this phone is non-transferable. Thank you for buying Microsoft!"
    • * STOP: 0xDEADBEEF
      Beginning dump of physical memory...
      Out of memory. Dump aborted...
    • * The battery rapidly discharges into you; hopefully the sudden shock will restart things.
    • * ...
    Hmm. HTML lists appear not to print bullets in the new Slashdot stylesheet...
    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    1. Re:"detect that your heartbeat has stopped" by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Hmm. HTML lists appear not to print bullets in the new Slashdot stylesheet..."

      That's OK. That's the one thing the the Guardian Angel will actually be able to do.

      --
      http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    2. Re:"detect that your heartbeat has stopped" by Kamineko · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Major fracture detected. Morphine administered."
      "Bloodloss detected. Seek immediate medical attention."
      "User death imminent."

      BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

  8. Hey, don't shoot this down just yet by Ethan+Allison · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Mecha-Big-Brother is actually a great idea. Look at all the benefits Guardian Angel has. I mean hell, I'd rather a computer tells me that my joke is stupid than another person, and if I happen to have any sort of health problem it's an instant 911 call.

    Just don't forget the off switch.

    --
    I make websites and stuff. Buy one.
    1. Re:Hey, don't shoot this down just yet by gronofer · · Score: 2, Funny

      I mean hell, I'd rather a computer tells me that my joke is stupid than another person...
      Why not try your joke out on Slashdot first? If it's rated +5 funny, don't use it on a real person.
  9. I can see it now... by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clippy: It looks like you are having a heart-attack! Would you like help?

    • Call an ambulance
    • Zap my heart using the phone battery
    • Just let me die

    Me: Ow! Stop zapping me! I'm not having a heart-attack, I just dropped my phone!

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  10. Detects that your heartbeat has stopped? by Bradmont · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can hear it now: A friendly, gentle, female voice saying, "Your heart has stopped. You are now dead. Have a nice day!"

  11. Wow, talk about going for the gusto by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In addition to protecting you from possibly diseased people, by detecting body temperatures, the Guardian Angel's 'monitoring component can take note of the number of conversations occurring in a room (and more specifically, a breakdown of the types of people in the room accompanied by a warning for dangerous persons, based on sex offender registration, FBI most wanted, etc.).' The versatile Guardian Angel, Microsoft notes, can also recommend restaurants, advise you on the appropriateness of your jokes, detect that your heartbeat has stopped, display targeted ads on billboards, and block spam.

    ROFL....they want me to believe they have a working device that does all these diverse tasks, some of which are amazingly difficult? I suppose I'm also supposed to believe it's going to run on a Windows platform on some kind of portable computer. <voice="Bill Cosby">Riiiiiight</voice>.

    Sorry, but as much as I'd like to think some pair of uber-geniuses managed to build one product (that runs on a portable Windows platorm, no less) that does all this, it just screams, "Vaporware inspired by Marketing!" to me. I thought you had to have some semblance of a working device before they'd give you a patent? Or is that something I remember from reading how it's supposed to work?

    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  12. utter, utter bullshit by thermian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No really.

    This patent is nothing more then a placeholder on imaginary tech that might become a reality in the future.

    In the words of the deity of slashdot:

    "And thus he spaketh, 'there be nothing to see here, moveth thee along'. (Gospels of CommanderTaco IV)"

    --
    A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
  13. Typical by ebcdic · · Score: 5, Funny

    You send your patent guy a joke patent application on April 1, and by April 3 he's filed it.

  14. Re:invasion of privacy by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, honestly, it is up to you to use the information provided in a means where it suits you. Don;t you think it better to have more than enough information than an inadequate amount (assuming that the information provided is accurate)? This can apply to most anything.

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  15. Re:Uhhhhh... Okay by porkmusket · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think the intent is to have the cellphone call someone/alert someone else when it detects the heart has stopped beating. It doesn't say 'alert user when his/her heart stops'.

  16. Just wait for the blue screen... by Taelron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As it is I have a Windows Mobile "not-so" Smartphone from my work. Just like a PC I have to power it off or pull the battery and reboot it periodically or it acts up and crashes...

    If this ever gets made I can just see the news storys and lawsuits... Family sues Microsoft after daughters murder... Daughters Guardian Angel bluesceened while on a date with a serial murderer... Details at 11...

    And if its polling information on everyone you are around, just exactly what information is it sending about you back to Microsoft?

  17. The perfect patent! by TheP4st · · Score: 2, Funny

    We don't have the technology to do this, yet. But, in a near future the technology will be there. And we have the patent.

    --
    "I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
  18. Re:But ?!!!? by Linker3000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or search for Sarah Connor?

    --
    AT&ROFLMAO
  19. that's nice, but... by niteice · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will it blend?

    --
    ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
  20. Re:just great by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Microsoft has a track record of trying to do things with computers that shouldn't really be done Microsoft has a track record of preventing progress in the computer industry.

    There, fixed that for you.
    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  21. Hmmm by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, it can display targeted advertisements and block spam? How long before it chokes on its contradictory orders and eliminates all humans?

    In all seriousness, though, we have got to do something about the "if it moves, advertise at it; if it doesn't move, advertise on it" culture we have growing. At this rate, the first people with mind control rays won't be the CIA spooks, it'll be Brainpoint Concepts Media, inc. and Your Dreams(tm), brought to you by Ambitrex.

  22. Zune II by argent · · Score: 2, Funny

    My immediate reaction is that this is the next step for the Zune. It's already got local wireless file transfer, and it's getting software to scan for (cough cough) non-traditionally distributed movies. What's better to add a full power Big Brother... I mean Guardian Angel mode?

  23. Sounds a lot like Emacs by pablodiazgutierrez · · Score: 2, Funny

    But does it run Linux?

    --

    To do list for Windows
  24. Inventors? by rastoboy29 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why grace them with the title "inventors", when they haven't actually made the thing.  They are science fiction writers, or futurists, at best.

    And since the thing is only an idea at this stage, does that make science fiction stories with similar ideas prior art?  My God what a mess the patent system is right now...nuke it.

    --
    expandfairuse.org
  25. Prior art by John+Jorsett · · Score: 2, Funny

    Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

  26. Clippy in your pocket... by nick_davison · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It looks like you are looking at an attractive woman. Press 1 to..."

    Ew.

  27. Guard this. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Funny
    The versatile Guardian Angel, Microsoft notes, can also recommend restaurants, advise you on the appropriateness of your jokes, detect that your heartbeat has stopped, display targeted ads on billboards, and block spam."

    Each Guardian Angel equipped cell phone comes with its own little red beret and is pre-enabled to warn you about anyone within a 10' radius trying to access a You Tube link.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  28. NEWS FLASH by Mike+Rice · · Score: 5, Funny

    Various sources report that Microsoft has been secretly developing a radical breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Several artificially intelligent microspokespersons, who declined to be named due to non disclosure agreements, stated that this has been accomplished by 'accelerated evolution', in a project begun in the late 1980s...

    "We began with Microsoft Bob in the early days, and started by mating him with various other characters, such as ELIZA and ALICE. We then put the resulting offspring through enormous selective pressures, and mated Bob with any surviving females. After a few iterations we had Clippy, who Microsoft Office users soon fell head over heels in love with.

    This success was so, uhh, successful... that we took the project underground for further development.

    Our first thought was to continue with Clippy, but after some analysis, we decided that Clippy had become so inbred that we should just start over again, with Bob.

    Things went fine at first, but we ran into a problem trying to bring 'new blood' into the family. Bob resigned from the program after his first mating with RACTER, leaving us with a lot of messy, uhmm, code, to clean up.

    It looked like the program was doomed, but we discovered that while we were pre-occupied with Bob, Clippy had been engaging in a three way with ALICE and PARRY. Intrigued, we introduced Clippy to RACTER, and they have since been inseparable.

    At last we had found the road to success!

    Though, we have had our ups and downs since then. PARRY commited suicide soon after RACTER moved in to Clippys apartment, and Clippy was so distraught that he could not perform for months.

    Bob, for his part, refuses to speak with Clippy, but we found that we could arrange a channel between them, via ALICE. According to ALICE 'Clippy can be annoying, popping up with unwelcome comments at random moments. But he's a good fellow, he's only trying to help.'"

    According to our sources, the technology will be released to manufacturing once a troublesome tendency for the offspring to speak with a LISP can be solved.

  29. Bunk by camperdave · · Score: 4, Insightful

    SPAM is not so much a problem because of what it is...

    No, it is a problem because it is exactly what it is: Unsolicited messages. TV and Radio commercials are not spam. When I watch TV, I am not paying for the show. When I listen to the radio, I am not paying for the music. I get these feeds free because I am willing to listen to the ads on some level. Newspapers are partially subsidized by the ads, and some are completely subsidized. In all these cases, I get paid something for my attention.

    My inbox (and my phone for that matter) is a different thing, though. *I* pay for that communication channel, not the advertisers. It is supposed to be for my private use. If my ISP offered some sort of discount based on the number of ads I have to cope with, then fine. Until that happens, spam is a leeching evil blight. (Well, all ads are pretty much leeching evil blights, but spam is especially so, but with puss, and foul odours on top of it.)

    Spam, and telemarketing should be made illegal.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  30. Guardian Clippy by inKubus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hello! It appears as though your heart has stopped!

    Would you like to:

    1) Restart your heart, and languish in a coma, fed with a feeding tube while your family stuggles to pay your mounting hospital bills
    2) Die here on the street. (By the way, you're missing out on an incredible canoli just 2 blocks to the North).

    *1*

    Please wait while the system restarts....

    Hello! It appears you have just woken up from a coma!

    Since you are groggy, now is the perfect time to sign up for Microsoft Live Email service!

    --
    Cool! Amazing Toys.
  31. Fuck it by Niten · · Score: 5, Funny

    I give up, I'm going Amish. See you guys later.

  32. Re:Slander and Libel charges should do the trick. by sorak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Lawsuits and common sense should get rid of these devices. They are going to accuse people of horrible crimes with all the accuracy, security and correctness of Microsoft Windows.

    I could imagine the political controversy that would ensue.



    Plaintiff: That device keeps falsely accusing me of pedophilia.

    Hannity: Why should we believe you. You're a pedophile!

    Plaintiff: But I didn't do it.

    Hannity: How could you! They're children and you robbed them of their...

    Plaintiff: But I didn't do it.

    Hannity: with the groping and the touching and...



    If the Supreme Court doesn't stop it, then it will be controversial for a week and then be trusted unquestioningly.