Is it just me or are we witnessing the slow but steady erosion of what it means to be American, or indeed, freedom itself in this country that prides itself on its democractic underpinnings.
From warrantless wiretapping to backscatter porno scanners at the airport, from the CIA stalking book reading clubs to the NSA watching your library reading list... it seems we are more and more moving toward the very model we supposedly fear the most - a police state in which the powerful control the rest of society through fear and a complete lack of individual rights.
Am I exaggerating ? Well then read this. A new app is being deployed to popular cell phones such as the iPod and Droid in the coming days that is written by the creator of Shazam (the rather handy song identifying app for the iPod). Not any old app though, an especially insidious app which serves to potentially change how we behave, to bend the very relationships between citizens and institutions.
DriveMeCrazy is the app. What it will do is let you call in a license plate, with an image, whenever you witness a citizen "behaving badly" in their vehicle. The information you report to the app will be shared with the State DMV and the major insurance companies.
Again, the information will be shared with the State DMV and major insurance companies.
Drivers will be flagged for each reported incident. Get enough incidents and you could find your insurance rates going up, your license potentially revoked and/or an officer at your door.
The potential for abuse of this app is mind numbingly scary. School kids playing a prank or jealous co-workers could call in fake reports to get someone blacklisted. An ex may report you for drunk driving.
How anyone could think that this is prudent and appropriate in an open society is beyond me. It is scary what we are becoming.
Source :
http://www.wired.com/...