(Email from a Listener)
Subject: Lifelog, the Darpa military surveillance project, now being promoted through 'the market'
Hello Alan,
I've just been listening to your October 19 talk. By the end of the show, you
read from a New Scientist article about a "new camera" that's
supposed to log people's lives. And which people even get to wear around their
necks, like with every other type of dog collar there is.
When I heard that, it sounded familiar to me, particularly the 'lifelog'
expression.
See, Lifelog is the name of a DARPA project which was (is) included in the
Total Information Awareness apparatus. Here is a quote from a DefenseTech
article on this DARPA program:
"The embryonic LifeLog program would take every e-mail you’ve sent or received, every picture you’ve taken,
every web page you’ve surfed, every phone call you’ve had, every TV show you’ve
watched, every magazine you’ve read, and dump it into a giant database.
All of this — and more — would be combined with a GPS transmitter, to keep
tabs on where you’re going; audio-visual sensors, to capture
all that you see or say; and biomedical monitors, to keep track of your
health."
http://defensetech.org/2003/05/20/darpa-wants-your-life-indexable-and-searchable/
In the meanwhile, the program was supposedly terminated. In fact it was, of
course, partitioned and distributed among private contractors.
And now here is one of its components. For fun, games and, of course, to help
the disabled and the elderly.
Isn't it funny (or scary, I should say) that these guys can pull this trick
time and time again? That is, to create a military weaponized tool (in this
case, for surveillance), and then sell it to the public on a piece-by-piece
basis, via "the market", to supposedly help and entertain all of us.
You can find the other components of the original LifeLog project spread around
everywhere, in all sorts of systems: internet and other communications'
surveillance, "smart meters", cell phone tracing, and now, even,
personal health monitoring systems.
From an eScienceNews article:
“A patient whose movement is being monitored, perhaps because of Alzheimer's or dementia, will wear a sensor the size of a quarter on a belt or piece of clothing. One whose vital signs, such as temperature, heart beat and oxygen level, are being monitored will wear the sensor on his or her skin.
"The house would have a handful of sensors in various rooms, depending upon the square footage. Those sensors would communicate with the sensor on the person and with a hub, which would be connected to the Internet and communicate with a caregiver's smartphone or PDA"”
So, as always, it's meant to help the disabled. A Wired magazine article sums up the nightmare that is being set up everywhere, though they give it the usual spin:
“Human beings will have all sorts of new options to collect data on ourselves. We could have vital sign sensors, which would provide real-time monitoring of deaths, as well as population excitement, sleep, and a host of other states. Our electromagnetic traffic could be monitored to understand when they are on the phone, using their computers’ WiFi, or heating up dinner.”
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/sensors-of-the/