Your Data in Public Space.
OK, so I am online trying to read the only free newspaper that is available from India; The Times of India - Bangalore Edition. I read an article and Bham! I am stunned. To give you an idea about the article lets travel back in time and also see if we can be stupid. (Key Word: Stupid).
So let’s say you are watching some regional movie. Well most of them that I have watched are either Kannada or Tamil and at times Telegu, Oh, of course, how can we forget Hindi; The proponent of "Crazy love" movies. So let’s say you are watching Darr. How would Darr be+ the article I just read+ the same fear and "Crazy Love".
You are born and brought up in Bangalore. A typical B'Gudi or a M'waram resident. You parents attend the twemple every day (yeah Twemple). You have a curfew; 8Pm. So you are driving back home from your friends place. There is a lone psycho (Who am I kidding? Psychos are alone) who has been watching you for a few days now. He likes you. No no, he likes you in the Darr-movie way, not the "oh-lets-live-together-for-two-years-and-then-think-of-settling" way. He is just obsessed about you. He wants more information about you. Just then he reads the article that I just read, He pops out his mobile phone after he sees you drive away to safety and then enters your car number. His phone beeps and Bham! No really, Bham! He gets your complete address, Name, Phone Number and may be Age.
Scene 2. So you are a well settled Project manager in a decent IT company in India. You make about 18 Lakh a year, you have nice trips to the US or EU now and then on work. Your neighbour the typical Government Officer is curious. About what, you say? Well about your life style. He knows you and your first circle well as he talks nicely to all when they come over to your place. So he reads the same article I just read, pops out his phone and enters your car number. He smiles like the front desk of the Plaza Hotel in Home Alone 2. You ask why? Well, he just found out that your new Skoda Superb is a gift from your uncle and not from your sweat.
Welcome to SMS based Vehicle registration information retrieval. ( Link to Article )
So what this basically does is it provides Vehicle registration information- On demand. All you need to do is follow a guide and then the vehicle registration number and in your hand is the information of the vehicle you just entered.
It definitely is a good system aiding in Hit-and-run cases, it is also good to find out that the car your friend has was actually owned by someone from Dubai/Prague/Moscow. You know what I mean. But seriously do we need that kind of information in the hands of general public? Think again. It is more damaging than possibly the very accident itself. Additionally, the job of getting vehicle information is only to be the held by the authorities.
I realize that we need to go ahead, in the field of Information technology, implement it in many aspects of our life to enhance and make things easier. But this is definitely not the way to go. Just because you have free clock cycles does not mean you run porn or a fraudulent credit card server.
So have a nice evening, sleep tight and welcome to the Information Ab-use Age.
So let’s say you are watching some regional movie. Well most of them that I have watched are either Kannada or Tamil and at times Telegu, Oh, of course, how can we forget Hindi; The proponent of "Crazy love" movies. So let’s say you are watching Darr. How would Darr be+ the article I just read+ the same fear and "Crazy Love".
You are born and brought up in Bangalore. A typical B'Gudi or a M'waram resident. You parents attend the twemple every day (yeah Twemple). You have a curfew; 8Pm. So you are driving back home from your friends place. There is a lone psycho (Who am I kidding? Psychos are alone) who has been watching you for a few days now. He likes you. No no, he likes you in the Darr-movie way, not the "oh-lets-live-together-for-two-years-and-then-think-of-settling" way. He is just obsessed about you. He wants more information about you. Just then he reads the article that I just read, He pops out his mobile phone after he sees you drive away to safety and then enters your car number. His phone beeps and Bham! No really, Bham! He gets your complete address, Name, Phone Number and may be Age.
Scene 2. So you are a well settled Project manager in a decent IT company in India. You make about 18 Lakh a year, you have nice trips to the US or EU now and then on work. Your neighbour the typical Government Officer is curious. About what, you say? Well about your life style. He knows you and your first circle well as he talks nicely to all when they come over to your place. So he reads the same article I just read, pops out his phone and enters your car number. He smiles like the front desk of the Plaza Hotel in Home Alone 2. You ask why? Well, he just found out that your new Skoda Superb is a gift from your uncle and not from your sweat.
Welcome to SMS based Vehicle registration information retrieval. ( Link to Article )
So what this basically does is it provides Vehicle registration information- On demand. All you need to do is follow a guide and then the vehicle registration number and in your hand is the information of the vehicle you just entered.
It definitely is a good system aiding in Hit-and-run cases, it is also good to find out that the car your friend has was actually owned by someone from Dubai/Prague/Moscow. You know what I mean. But seriously do we need that kind of information in the hands of general public? Think again. It is more damaging than possibly the very accident itself. Additionally, the job of getting vehicle information is only to be the held by the authorities.
I realize that we need to go ahead, in the field of Information technology, implement it in many aspects of our life to enhance and make things easier. But this is definitely not the way to go. Just because you have free clock cycles does not mean you run porn or a fraudulent credit card server.
So have a nice evening, sleep tight and welcome to the Information Ab-use Age.
posted by Ashrith Barthur at
10:56 AM
6 Comments
