Search the World's Smartphone Photos

Posted by timothy on Sunday August 14, 2011 @02:34AM from the you-are-where dept.

mikejuk writes "Researchers have devised and tested a system called Theia that can perform an efficient parallel search of mobile phones to track down a target photo. It could be used to perform a realtime search for a missing child accidently caught in a photo you have just taken or the location of a criminal or political activist. You might think that the security and privacy aspects were so terrible that you just wouldn't install the app. However exceptional photos of a sporting or news incidents are worth money and the profit motive might be enough for you to install it."

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Re:What about security cameras? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-14 06:42 · Score: 2, Informative

[...] the fear of abuse [...] is mitigated by law and regulations.
No it isn't.
Giving the government more powerful surveillance toys when they've proven repeatedly that they can't be trusted with the current set is a BADIDEA(TM).