The Memory Leak

OK, I’d like to think I’m not an ecofascist, but when I found litter in our front yard I began to think how RFID tags might allow me to track down the perpetrators.

Some day we will all be using credit cards for everything we purchase. Many of these purchases will have RFID tags. This means we could be held responsible for how we dispose of these products. Police could scan litter, find out who purchased it and send them a ticket. Even the blind judge from Alice’s Restaurant would have to accept it as evidence.

Behave yourself when you dine at Mama’s Cafe here in San Antonio. Mama, Ma Bell, and Big Brother … I guess this is what family dining is all about.

Addendum - Oh, and let’s not forget about Uncle Sam.

From New York Times article:

“It is Big Brother, but in this day and age, you need these type of tools” for theft protection, weeding out false accident claims and other risks, said Beaux Roby, owner of a chain of five Mama’s Café restaurants and two banquet halls in Texas. Mr. Roby has been using the system for nine weeks as part of a pilot program. “You have fraudulent claims from customers that trip and fall and things like that,” he said.

If AT&T’s remote monitoring is successful, I would think a map interface for selecting monitoring sites navigating the wireless sensor network would become a requirement for quickly finding the monitoring site you’d like to view. Or suppose you had an RFID detector as a monitoring device, you could choose a particular RFID and have an application that switches which video feed to monitor as the RFID tag is detected at different locations.

I used my season pass this weekend to visit SeaWorld. Before entering, I had my fingerprint scanned and matched against the scan already on file for my card. While some people have a problem with this, I didn’t mind. I’m willing to cede personal info to a corporation. Now if the Highway department scanned my license plate as I drove congested freeways on my way to SeaWorld though, I’d likely protest …

You are being asked to participate in these efforts because the license plate of a vehicle registered in (your) name was randomly recorded.

-Survey sent to Texas Drivers by Alliance Group

I’m sure when I go to a shopping mall cameras track my movements. I don’t have a problem with that either. In fact, I feel safer, at least in the parking garage. Once RFID catches on I suppose scanners will read what I’ve got in my bag and pop up ads for complementing items at other stores on nearby LCD displays. Not only will they know where I am, but where I’ve been and what I’ve bought. Maybe my Google RFID credit card will also transmit my googleID, so google ads will also appear on monitors as I walk around.

But don’t let the government issue national identity cards. People have every right to freely enter this country and remain anonymous. If they want to go to SeaWorld though, they’ll have to buy a ticket and surrender their identity. After all, we gotta draw the line somewhere.

When free society gets too chaotic I’ll just retreat to my SeaWorld where they know me so well, and where they make me leave my car behind and actually walk (yes, walk!) to get around.

Inside SeaWorld, I never worry about things getting ugly, like they did at MacArthur Park.

Remember The Prisoner?

I wonder how long it will be before Busch/Disney/SixFlags repackages theme parks as pedestrian oriented neighborhoods where people not only play but also live and work. I often hear the phrase “exclusive neighborhood” without really thinking about who is being excluded. I’m sure tightened security would be a selling point for such neighborhoods. I’m also betting they’ll see the light and invite Starbucks, perhaps even installing “no matter where you go, there you are” window dressing to keep the graying hippies from getting suspicious.

I’m surprised no one has suggested setting up a mesh WiFi covering Baghdad. Such a mesh could track everyone via active RFID. Motion triggered survellance cameras could detect people moving by that lack RFIDs and alert appropriate authorities. A huge geodatabase would know who was where and at what times. Crime would diminish, peace would ensue, property values would skyrocket.

Tele-atlas has opened an office in Singapore, a very safe city. I bet they start tracking people with RFID, some day billing the parents of kids who joy-ride the elevators. They’ll have a 3D model after all.

Speaking of Singapore, I wonder when they’ll expand their electronic road pricing to charge people based on their use of other public spaces, and not just roads. Or maybe just charge visitors passing through. Disneyland could prototype the system - they’re already tracking kids. Maybe they could pursue a defense contract making Baghdad into a theme park based on the animated movie Aladdin.

I guess spatial access codesharing between cities will evolve the same way as it has with airlines. Citizens of certain cities will be forgiven their trespasses as their hometown forgives the trespasses of visitors from other codesharing cities.

I read about an all-you-can-eat buffet in Japan. The food is free - but you have to pay based on how long you are inside the restaurant.

Allpoints mentions how RFID tracking is “coming of age”.  Nowadays seems like a technology hasn’t really come of age until it’s adopted by terrorists, quoting from PhysOrg.com :

“London’s Royal Academy of Engineering suggests that someday a terrorist will be able to read personal details from a distance and set a bomb to go off when a particular person gets within range.”

Report here shows where RFID might be headed: active tags. Seems like with a wireless grid and active tags, geolocation without GPS should be possible - and at a much lower cost.

Houston has contracted to have 600 square miles of WiFi. This should make it even easier to expand congestion based pricing beyond the toll roads.

What’s this got to do with GIS programming ?

Coming up with an algorithm that updates cost based on congestion levels could be interesting. Assuming pricing is based on time of day, writing a path finding routine could also become more complex.

Seems like taxi services could change too, perhaps allowing trips to be purchased through an eBay-like auction. I guess the unions would not allow this though. That’s too bad, if taxis were cheaper perhaps more people would choose not to own a car.