Consumer activism, the iPhone and intelligent object recognition
I had a feeling this was coming. And I’m glad it’s sooner than later. An app has been developed for the iPhone that allows it to recognize objects “based on visuals through the iPhone camera, a RFID reader or through GPS, and then fetches the data from related databases.”
It’s currently being billed as a tourist’s handy device, but I’m hoping we will see the day when it becomes a consumer’s handy device. Not too long ago some colleagues and I at Kansas State pondered the future of the mobile and how it would impact consumer behavior. We imagined the ability to point your phone at an RFID or a 2D barcode on a piece of clothing (or in this case, the piece of clothing itself) and see where it was made, how much it was made for, and how much the person(s) responsible for making it were paid. Now, without enormous popular support no company in their right mind would willingly demystify the unequal exchange behind their products by tagging them with RFIDs or 2D barcodes, so we figured it would emerge first through a consumer wiki of some sort. When you shot the RFID or whatever tagging device with your phone, you’d be taken to the wiki and could see the appropriate information for the particular product you’re interested in purchasing. All of this in the hope that we all together could help de-fetishize our relation to commodities and pull the wool back from our relationship to other (often poor) places in the world where most of our products are produced.
Perhaps it will start as a guerrilla tagging movement…
via The Future of the iPhone: Intelligent Object Recognition.
Eventually there will be face recognition adapted to it. I think the more interesting impact will be when criminal mugs are combined with the face recognition. Can you imagine just moving around your iPhone and a info bubble popping up saying this person is a sex offender, most-wanted, or terrorist?
Have you read the debate over using facial recognition technology at the super bowl? With the high rate of false-positives for such a nascent technology and the bureaucratic inefficiencies of our government and security forces, facial recognition capabilities seem like an unnecessary and dangerous encroachment on personal privacy and freedom, especially when used for outstanding arrest warrants that are relatively insignificant.
And how would it change social interaction if such capabilities were put in the hands of individuals? (Though, the information available to either party in question would be different.)
That’s interesting. If it’s one-way, where the authority monopolizes the technology, then I am not for it. And obviously it’s in its toddler phase, so don’t have to worry about it too much anyways.
But if we consider it an invasion of privacy… the pattern is already setup in that direction. Just look at Google Maps. Lots of folks think it’s an invasion of privacy (lawsuits in Japan over this for example). Also, in Hawaii they took my photo and my prints for a freakin’ residence card. I’m in the system now. It’s just a matter of time, I think before the technologies merge. Your face is on this blog as well. “Big Brother” is watching you, too! (^.^)
But as a healer in Hawaii told me, “You think too much. It’s not good for you.” That, and I don’t drink enough water. He’s probably right.