Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe?

George Orwell's vision of Big Brother has not come to pass - at least the way he saw it. We do have cameras in factories, tapping of the entire phone system, and cameras along our highways and on our stoplights. But so far our homes are our castles. But Accenture Technology is arranging to change that with their persuasive mirror system. For more detail you can read one of the Accenture press releases here.

This mirror is a fascinating piece of technology. I don't know that there is any one piece of it that is groundbreaking by itself, but the way everything is put together is revolutionary. Cameras placed around the house send data to a computer which uses special software to modify persons reflection and show what the consequences of all those trips to the refrigerator could be.

If that were all this system could do, it would be an interesting, and likely expensive, tool for persons wanting to gain control of their weight. But persuading us to change to a healthier lifestyle is only one possible application of this technology. It can also be used to monitor people for changes in behavior. Currently the idea is to watch parking garages for car thieves whose actions presumably would differ from the actions of car owners. But there is also the possibility that employers could use this system - minus the mirror - to monitor employees and watch for signs of improper activity. Remember that from an employers point of view, hunting for a different job can be considered improper activity.

This technology disturbs me. Not because of the potential for big brother - not in the short term, anyway. But what does disturb me is that I can see so many acceptible uses for this technology. Monitoring criminals on house arrest becomes not only easy, but warnings generated by behavior changes no longer rely on humans who can't always be there, but are done automatically, twenty four hours a day. Convicted sex offenders behavior at home can be closely monitored for signs of recidivism. psychiatric patients who don't require the attention of a twenty four hour care facility, but need more monitoring than could normally be given at home could be monitored at home as closely as necessary without having to be in a managed care facility. The possibility of using this system to control the home is also intriguing. I can even imagine a time when people use this system to produce their own entertainment. Imagine a world where everyone can produce their own reality show.

So what happens when these devices become commonplace. In stores, offices, and even in the home? Add networking so that the images gathered and displayed can be accessed from outside and the potential for damaging data loss becomes far greater than anything Mastercard could cause by losing your data. The upside is that most data criminals are going to go after masses of data, not individuals. Not enough money.

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