The dystopia created in this animation by Simon Russell is a world I hope to never be a part of: drones littered across the sky, surveillance cameras pointing every which way and for some reason, dubstep. It doesn’t all make sense but Russell’s imaginative take on the look of futuristic drones and cameras are perfectly chaotic and crazy. Some floating orb drones look like mini Death Stars while other cameras are like machine guns.
They’ve been a mainstay of the hyper-paranoid for decades—at least when it comes to comic depictions. But now, the classic, beloved tin foil hat has left the world of hyperbole to become an actual, honest-to-god mind-reading-deflection machine. And it looks fancy, to boot.
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Suppose you’re walking home one night, alone, and you decide to take a shortcut through a dark alley. You make it halfway through, when suddenly you hear some drunks stumbling behind you. Some of them are shouting curses. They look large and powerful, and there are several of them. Nonetheless, you feel safe, because you know someone is watching.
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Are you worried about Barack Obama reading all your emails and listening to all your phone calls? Beefing up your privacy settings is one thing, but fighting in the greater war to protect your Constitutional rights is another. You should do the latter, y’know, to be a good American. Here’s how to get started.
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Are you the kind of person that’s worried about Big Brother and those CCTV cameras all over the place? So you don’t want your face on camera feeds? Then these specs might be for you.
These glasses fitted with LEDs were created by Isao Echizen and Seiichi Goshi at the National Institute of Informatics and Kogakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. The glasses emit near IR light, which prevents current facial recognition cameras and software from figuring out who you are. The lights are powered by a small battery pack that needs to be transported in your pocket.
Granted, unless you’re going for some sort of Blade Runner look, they’re not particularly chic, but they get the job done. They’re also not exactly what you’d call inconspicuous, so security might still hunt you down, even though they don’t know who you are.
The researchers are working on making these specs a bit more fashionable. They predict that the final model will cost around $1(USD) to manufacture.
We already know that Microsoft’s been looking at ways to turn Kinect into a snitch, but now, Big Brother is taking his talents to the nation’s students with a shiny new line of merciless, whistle-blowing e-books. More »
Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s… a lifeguard? Aiming to keep a robotic eye out for distressed swimmers and dangerous marine life, Surf Life Saving Australia will soon deploy flying safety drones across beaches in Queensland, Australia. Starting off on a trial basis, the unmanned bots have a wingspan of one meter (about three feet) and will feature detachable safety buoys and alert sirens. While it could be the next thing in oceanside safety, we’d image that some folks won’t be too fond of being watched sans any say in the matter. That said, we’d be remiss not to mention to that SLS head Brett Williamson frankly stated to ABC that “at the end of the day this is about public safety.” Big brother conspiracy aside, we’re sure some folks could be swayed if these bad boys play Flight of the Valkyries while in formation.
[Image credit: Kim Powell]
Filed under: Science
UAV Lifeguards to patrol Australian beaches, Hasselhoff given notice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Oh, bureaucracies, the fun in dealing with them is that you’re told exactly what they want you to know — or at least, believe. That’s the name of the game in India, where — as you’re surely aware — the government has been at odds with RIM for years over its insistence that the Waterloo firm provide the means to monitor encrypted emails and BBM messages. In a revelation that may relate to those BlackBerry servers in Mumbai, R. Chandrasekhar of India’s Department of Information Technology has asserted, “The issue is heading towards a resolution.” While it’s difficult to know whether monitoring is already in place, Chandrasekhar added that, “Law enforcement agencies will get what they need.” Another unknown is whether RIM played a role in these developments. For its part, the company claims, “RIM maintains a consistent global standard for lawful access requirements that does not include special deals for specific countries.” So, if everything is now clear as mud for you, just remember: that’s how those in charge like it.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Indian official claims BlackBerry eavesdropping standoff is ‘heading towards a resolution’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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