Major Ramifications Potentially
"Engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power. The new communication technique, which the researchers call 'ambient backscatter,'
takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already
surround us around the clock. Two devices communicate with each other by
reflecting the existing signals to exchange information. The
researchers built small, battery-free devices with antennas that can
detect, harness and reflect a TV signal, which then is picked up by
other similar devices."
"MIT Professor Dina Katabi and graduate student Fadel Adib have developed a system they call Wi-Vi that uses Wi-Fi signals to visualize moving forms behind walls.
How it works: 'Wi-Vi transmits two Wi-Fi signals, one of which is the
inverse of the other. When one signal hits a stationary object, the
other cancels it out. But because of the way the signals are encoded,
they don't cancel each other out for moving objects. That makes the
reflections from a moving person visible despite the wall between that
person and the Wi-Vi device. Wi-Vi can translate those faint reflections
into a real-time display of the person's movements.'"
"Following the publication in May of George Packer's alarming article in the New Yorker
revealing the state of the communities surrounding California's tech
boom, the LA Times reports that despite the wake-up call, things are
getting even worse in the Bay Area as tech companies seek to completely insulate their employees from ever having to interact with the real world.
Quoting: 'Every weekday starting at dawn and continuing late into the
evening, a shiny fleet of unmarked buses rolls through the streets of
San Francisco, picking up thousands of young technology workers at
dozens of stops and depositing them an hour's drive south. It's an
exclusive perk offered by Apple, Facebook, Google and other major
Silicon Valley companies: luxury coaches equipped with air conditioning,
plush seats and wireless Internet access that ease the stress of
navigating congested Bay Area roadways. The private mass transit system
has become the most visible symbol of the digital gold rush sweeping
this city, and of the sharpening division between those who are riding
the high-tech industry's good fortunes and those who are not.'"
"ITWorld has an interesting opinion piece on the next privacy battleground, which they say will be over citizens' rights to use jamming technology to (forcibly) opt-out of ubiquitous surveillance, as sensors pop up in more and more public spaces
and private homes alike. 'Given the rapid pace of technological change,
we don't know exactly what the future holds for us. But one thing is
certain: personal privacy is going to turn from a "right" to a "fight"
in the next decade, as individuals take up arms against government and
private sector snooping on their personal lives.' The article mentions
some skirmishes that have already occurred: employees using GPS jamming
hardware to prevent employers from tracking their every movement, and
the crush of new business for encrypted voice, video and texting
services like SilentCircle (up 400% in the last two months). 'Absent the
protection of the law, citizens should be expected to do what they do
elsewhere: take matters into their own hands: latching onto tools and
technology to give them the privacy that they aren't afforded by the
legal system. However, there may not be an easy technology fix for
ubiquitous, unregulated surveillance. Writing in Wired this week,
Jathan Sadowski warns that the tendency for individuals to focus on
securing their own data and communications and using technology to do
may be misleading. 'The problem is that focusing on one or both of these
approaches distracts from the much-needed political reform and societal pushback necessary to dig up a surveillance state at its root,' Sadowski writes."
Bill Gates Official Movie Trailer
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