Apple co-founder creates electronic tags (NYT)

[fshrink]

http://www.iwon.com/bd.redir?redir=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/technology/21ZEUS.html?ex=1059451200&en=3971bc42a84c70e9&ei=5058&partner=IWON

"Wheels of Zeus and its chief executive, Stephen Wozniak, developed WozNet, which is a technology that can tell people the position of anything that carries its locator tag."

By JOHN MARKOFF

This one smells really bad. The guy might be losing it. And his "Hummer" parked in front of the office is not a good sign either... The times they are a'changin...

[lightbulb]

1. Ever seen Woz Cam?

http://wozcam.woz.org

The link was not working last time I checked, but basically this guy has a bunch of robotic cameras set up around his house that anyone can view and control via the web interface. I got to watch him doing some video editing once. Apparently he's not very into the concept of privacy!

[fshrink]

2. There's a strong paranoid flavor to all this

which is quite concerning. Not that I worry about his personal welfare much. But, in those times of control, surveillance and bigbrotherish drift I find this rather scary.

[LiberalLibra]

5. paranoid?? That's not paranoid, here's paranoid.....

....think of the many uses the government could find for this including, but not limited to, keeping track of dissenters. Asscroft and Ridge could just love this stuff, so would Rummy for that matter.

[alfredo]

3. It is of limited range

possibly by FCC rules for unlicensed user.

Any technology can and will be misused.

Imagine planting a tag in the car of an unfaithful spouse, it could be a potent weapon in divorce court.

[RustyShackleford]

4. Headline of the future...

"Liberty crushed under the Wheels of Zeus"

Mr. Wozniak said, as well as other uses that he declined to describe. :tinfoilhat:

[TomNickell]

6. Seems like a complicated way to find a lost dog.....

There's no Big Brother issue unless the receiver networks spread outside of Silicon Valley, if they ever get in stalled there.

Range for a small transmitter is limited by power requirements. Range can be extended by sending information slowly, but hundreds of yards is likely the limit.

Having just spent numerous hours looking for a missing cat, I'd look at a practical pet locator. Don't think this is it.

[nolabels]

7. Looking at thing in hand, they got a long way to go before I would......

be worried about it. When it is like them things they want to use in wallmart then I will worry. I woud say they are six to eight years away from that.