We all love technology. The way it makes our lives better, the way it makes our work easier, the unimaginable things it perform and so on. But have you ever thought about how these advanced technologies are invading our lives.
Well, if you never heard about the below listed technologies, keep an eye on them. Because today or tomorrow, they are going to pop up into your “private” life, making others aware everything about where you are, who you're with, what you are looking for to even your feelings.
Environmental Tracking: We Know What You're Doing
Google’s latest patent for targeting the ads involve one interesting technology capable of determining not just where you are but what you are doing based on ambient sounds, temperature, and other environmental conditions.
For example, you might call some service may be Google, and thanks to the sounds of the crowd and an announcer, the service knows you're attending a soccer game on a cool night. Google could then send you a targeted ad, such as a coupon for dinner near the stadium or a deal on sweatshirts at the stand if the weather drops below 60 degrees.
But think, the same technology can be used for ill purpose, it could let others know where you go and what you do when you get there.
Mood and Voice Recognition: We Know How You Feel
Fujitsu and Nagoya University have recently invented a technology capable of "reading" certain moods and intentions. Specifically, the technology aims to nullify the phone phishing scams by picking up on keywords from the executor and by measuring the voice and pitch of the victim. If it detects many faults, then, you will get a scam alert that the call is fraud.
Using voice recognition and analyzing voice patterns for stopping crime is cool. However, imagine a bad guy using it while trying to sell you some fraud and he is being able to change his pitch and convince you as his phone tells him whether you are calm, distressed, or defensive.
Facial Recognition: We Know What You Look Like
Companies are competing to develop reliable face-recognition software for some time now. Facebook, has now facial recognition to identify your friends in photos. Another startup called Faced.me recentlyannounced a technology through which you select a picture and the software identifies the person in the picture in about a second. After that, you can connect with that user on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Under secured use, this kind of face-recognition technology seems to be cool. But it turns ugly when used as a tool for quickly connecting with someone by snapping their picture secretly and quickly learning someone's identity from that single photo, whether found on the Web or taken with a camera
Augmented Reality: We See What You See
The idea behind augmented reality is you point a camera-enabled device at something and instantly get information about it. For example, you could point a device at a still photo from an event. The device could identify the scene and start playing a video clip about the event. Google, meanwhile, developed Google glass through which you could, for example, look down a city street and see digital details overlaid on the screen such as street names, areas of interest, and directions.
Augmented reality will prove good for many applications based on entertainment, education, and business. But with it you're pretty much letting a third party "see" in real time where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, and so on.
GPS Tracking: We Know Where You Are
Last year, some mall owners faced public objection after announcing plans to discreetly track shoppers via their personal mobile devices. The purpose was to collect a precise view of customer foot traffic, which in turn help retailers improve the layout of their businesses. But they rolled back the scheme after being accused of violating customers' privacy.
This technology is good that it provides detailed, yet anonymous data on foot traffic, which could be used for designing better stores, stadiums, city streets, and so on. Unfortunately, it turns bad when a company could track you anonymously based on your device, collecting identifying information about you that could be sold or stolen.