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The TAG Challenge: $5k Global Manhunt Using Social Media

Posted by samzenpus on from the where's-waldo dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNET just published an article about a new challenge to photograph 5 target individuals in 5 different cities on March 31st. The TAG challenge will pay the winner $5k. Target mobility means this will be much harder than the DARPA Red Balloon Challenge which was won by MIT. From the article: 'On March 31, mug shots of five "suspects" will be published, and it'll be game on in a global hunt for "jewel thieves" in Bratislava, Slovakia; Stockholm; London; Washington, D.C.; and New York City, each of whom will spend 12 hours that day in public areas. The first team to upload photographs of each of the five by noon eastern time on April 1 will win the competition--and with it, a ton of international glory.'"

11 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Armies of look-alikes and false positives by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now would someone, or a lot of someones, purposely disguise themselves to look like the targets individuals in the fives cities? And romp around all day in public? Nah, couldn't happen.

    The volume of false positives will be amusing at least.

    "There he is! Right next to Elvis, flipping burgers! With Angelina Jolie's leg!"

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  2. Real fugitives... by Covalent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't announce where they're going, tend to shy away from appearing in public places for 12 hours consecutively, are capable of wearing disguises, etc.

    This is possibly useful for finding the average citizen.

    Oh, I see where they're going with this now...

    --
    Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
    1. Re:Real fugitives... by RogueLeaderX · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The problem is average citizens are as yet unaware they're fugitives.

      There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system. - Ayn Rand

      Note: I don't agree with most of Ms. Rand's sentiments, but this is proving increasingly true.

    2. Re:Real fugitives... by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

      are capable of wearing disguises

      Have them wear hoodies, what could possibly go wrong?

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    3. Re:Real fugitives... by jeffmeden · · Score: 2

      Note: I don't agree with most of Ms. Rand's sentiments, but this is proving increasingly true.

      She was wrong on a number of things, but she occasionally knocked one out of the park. This statement by her mirrors current reality closely enough to actually be a little disturbing.

      You know what they say... A broken clock is right as long as you can get someone to pay you for it. Or wait, I think I have my Ayn Rand maxims mixed up here. A high priced clock is right as long as someone else saw you pay good money for it? Oh what was it...

    4. Re:Real fugitives... by flyingsquid · · Score: 2
      The issue is that we have vast amounts of intelligence out there that can let us spot threats, but it doesn't end up where it needs to go. In the lead up to 9/11, intelligence analysts were writing reports with titles like "bin Laden Determined to Strike in US"; if they had also known that there were middle eastern men taking lessons in flying planes (but not interested in landing them) then perhaps 9/11 and two wars could have been averted. Attempted airplane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was reported by his own family as being radicalized, they were worried about him and what he might do. His plot didn't work, but if those reports had made it to the right people, he never would have gotten on that plane in the first place. Likewise, Mohamed Merah, the French man who killed three French soldiers and three Jewish schoolchildren, was detained in Afghanistan by NATO forces. If that information had been in the right hands, perhaps they would have caught him sooner.

      It's ultimately a social networking problem. People are connected to other people by links, often surprisingly few. There's the classic 'six degrees of separation', but these days, with social media, internet, and cell phones, the number of links has to be even fewer. But the information doesn't get where it needs to go. So how do we exploit a combination of internet and social networks to ensure that the right information gets passed to the right people, at the right time? The obvious application would be to intelligence organizations and government bureaucracies, allowing them to accurately assess threats and make the right decisions.

    5. Re:Real fugitives... by gusmolinadroid · · Score: 2

      Replace "laws" for basic primitive desires, like hunger or desire to sex. Forbid everyone from feeling these desires. Taboo the most primitive desire of all, one that every adult feels, and... presto. Religion is there. Not much different at all.

  3. From what I've heard by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    The one in London should be easy. You won't even need to use your own camera, given that they're ubiquitous already.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  4. Not worth it by Anubis+IV · · Score: 2

    At $5K, it's not worth it to even make an attempt unless you're able to leverage teams of people already in those locations and are in it for the glory. Plus, once you consider how large some of these cities are, you'll need something more than just your team on the ground doing the work. You'll either need some form of an automated or crowd-sourced system. If you're doing the latter, that means either hoping you can rope in hundreds or thousands of volunteers, or else posting ads in major media with bounties for information that leads to the targets. Either way, the cost far exceeds the reward.

  5. April.... by theNAM666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    >The first team to upload photographs of each of the five by noon eastern time on April 1 will win the competition--and with it, a ton of international glory...

    Yep. They'll forever be known as the April Fools!

  6. Re:able to leverage teams of people by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Dear RIAA. Each of these people shared a Copyrighted Song."

    (Twelve minutes later)

    "Here are their GPS coordinates and matching photos. Here is your $5,000 fee for bringing this to our legal department's attention."

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine