Coolhunt 4: It’s watching us

Last year I heard from somebody, that hackers can watch you trough your webcam. There was also an episode of GTST (a dutch soap serie) where it was shown. I immediately put a sticker on my webcam. At one point, the sticker fell off and I forgot to put a new one on it. At the beginning of this year, there appeared new posts about taping your webcam.
At a certain point, I saw more and more people with a patch, sticker, tape, etc. on their laptop.

The Volkskrant also posted an appeal on their website at the 15th January. In January, Lodewijk van Zwieten, national public prosecutor in the area of cybercrime, advised all dutch people to cover their webcams the moments they don’t you use it.
This was in response to the court case against the eighteen year old hacker who had broken into computers on a large scale and had manipulated all kinds of files. The hacker also spyed on people through their webcam. This can be quite simple with certain software (Volkskrant, 2014).

The VPRO wants to make its viewers aware of this and has previously included stickers in its TV guide. At the front page they placed the sentence: It’s watching us.

The organisation Bits of Freedom, that defends digital rights, developed Bits of Freedom Stickers that you can stick on your webcam. With these stickers you can let everybody know that internetfreedom is important to you. These stickers can be ordered at their website (Bof, 2014)

Of course it’s also possible to put a normal sticker or something else on your webcam!

Why is it cool?
Total Transparency has it’s benefits and it’s drawbacks. A disadvantage is that our privacy is in danger. These activities will make people think about their own privacy and incentivise them to take action. They can make sure that their own privacy is protected.

Why has it future growth potential?
Because of the technological developments, it’s harder to protect your privacy. The trend Total Transparency is a long- term trend and will not end in a month. We want our privacy back and we want to have control about our own live. These actions seem to make that a bit more attainable.

Coolhunt 3 TRACKERS

Since the development of new technologies, privacy has declined. However, these technologies can also help you with certain things.

For Example, with the app Shazam, you can find songs from the past few years. Therefore you do not have to be stuck with a song in your head without knowing the title of the song..

Now, a new app has been designed, ASAP54. This app helps you to find the cute shoes you saw on the street. When you come across something you only have to take a picture and the app will search for the clothing or will look for something similar.

The ‘find my phone’ apps are older but still very useful because it is a permanent problem.  At this moment there is a wide range of apps for every phone to find your phone.

At Volkskrant.nl I read the article: ‘Holland and U.S. want phones to be equipped with ‘killswitch”.
‘Telecom Providers in the Netherlands probably will be required from Januari 1 next year, to make the stolen mobile phones of their customers unusable. Because of Killswitch the phone will be unusable. The U.S. is working on a similar law. The blockade has to make sure that thieves can not access the valuable data.
The next problem arises: hackers can probably soon delete phones widely, leaving many people with a crappy phone’ (volkskrant.nl).

Trackers are not only for phones. For example, now there is TRAX, a GPS tracker that helps you locate your children and pets real time by using a mobile app or computer.

 

At last, there is a firefighter who has designed his own Google Glass App which saves lives.
‘Jackson, a 34-year-old member of the Google Glass Explorer program, has developed an app that displays incoming emergency dispatches, shows maps of where incidents are, nearest fire hydrants, and even building plans. By using data to shorten response times, he’s hoping to turn his peers’ disbelief into respect’ (fastcolabs.com). 

Why is it cool?
I am not sure that I find everything cool. But I wanted to show the two sides of trackers.
I like some of the trackers because you can track stolen stuff or you can save lives with it.
But the fact that soon everyone knows anywhere and at any time where you are, does not seem like such a nice idea. Trough bonus cards and discount cards the stores already know what you are buying and now they can follow passersby on the street trough tracking phones.

Why has it future growth potential?
Technology develops constantly. By Web 3.0 it is already possible for companies to see what everyone is typing on their websites, without placing the message. And now they go a step further. Because off these possibilities they have a certain power over you and I do not think that they will give that up soon.