Talkin-Typewrita.
- Critique Talk
Herald The Coming Of The Geode
Friday, October 10, 2008, 00:19
Firefox has come up with new technology that allows people to see where the physical location of a particular computer is. Meaning, if you happen to be a megalomaniac plotting for world domination, and you’re looking for henchmen at minions-4-you.com, the location of your secret lair could be revealed to anyone and not just some super spy agency.Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little, but the gist of it still remains. You can read about The Geode, Firefox’s experimental project here.
I sense marketing potential in the Geode. It’s going to add a whole new dimension of interactivity for marketing campaigns that depends on user involvement – very much like viral marketing, only the location matters.
For instance, “website[s]…only allow people to log in from certain locations… [are] possible uses of the technology.”
What this means is that a marketing campaign for, say a local movie, could require a participant to travel to certain parts of Singapore that were featured within the movie to get location specific information for a contest.
It seems like a feasible idea, what with the advent of the iPhone and its cronies (HTC Touch, Samsung Omnia etc), which makes it so much easier for owners to have internet access on the go.
All they have to do is get to whichever location is required of them, log in to the internet and pray they get handsomely rewarded for their efforts.
But for every benefit something brings, there’s bound to be a polar opposite. It’s a very Yin-Yang relationship. In this case it’s the contentious issue of privacy. The fact that it can pin point the location of a computer using this plug-in means that nerdy and pervy hackers are going to have a hay-day tracking down the (pun alert) domains (internet…domain….yes, no? ah well) of whichever elusive creature from the fairer species they might have had their bespectacled eyes glued on to.
Of course, Firefox says it “is keen to stay ahead of privacy concerns” and plans to let the user determine how much information about their whereabouts they want to give out. However, I bet my lucky beer mug that a very determined (and perhaps with too much time on his hands) hacker might find his way around this safe guard and exploit it. Afterall, didn’t Apple claim that their iPhone is un-hackable as well?
At any rate, I’ll rather be wrong and know that my privacy is still, well…private, than keep my beer mug with the awareness that my stalker knows where I live.
Labels: Youjin