Wednesday 7 September 2011

guise

The abundantly marvelous Neat-o-Rama is raising some very legimate concerns from a retired member of the Australian federal police force: facial recognition and automated image-tagging features of popular social media services could eventually render it impossible to conduct an undercover operation. Advanced software can already guess how people's looks might age, and even if someone's profile is from his or her infancy, having such schematics out there in the ether permanently could pose a severe detriment to any aspiring secret agent. I suppose that it would not just apply to sting operations, but to everything deft and clock-and-dagger, like espionage, witness protection, et cetera. It is frightening how anonymity is imploding, and that privacy and repercussions are only saved by the herd and hive that are getting exponentially easier to manage.