What a Cell Phone Study reveals about Human Behaviour

A new study, using location-tracking data from 100 000 cellphones, was conducted by the Center for Complex Network Research at Northwestern University in Boston.

The study suggests that most people move between a small number of locations and do not go very far from home. The researchers can also predict the likelihood of a person being in a specific location, knowing of course which locations are frequented by that person.

Sounds somewhat unsettling but check it out over here if you're interested.

Stack,
Really, when you think about it, we have arrived in the "Big Brother is watching you" era.

Its time for the people to rebel and fight back. There is a fine line between what cool things we can do with technology and invading peoples personal freedom.

I love the technology......Don't know about the invasion of privacy. Its kinda like something out of a terminator movie!

Ok, sure. There are applications of technology that invade our lives and compromise our privacy. The irony is though that most people do not notice or do not care because they do not realise how real it is.

Most people who are extremely aware of how serious the situation is either get labelled as paranoid or just plain crazy.

Still, in the context of the article there are ways to evade tacking, to some extent.
-If you wish to hide your presence from your ISP at certain times of day, Switch Off Your Cell!!
-Get a disposable cell, a non-contract SIM, don't use an airtime contract. (Oh no!! Now I'm sounding like a crazy person!!)

That's it Stack,
We're checking you into the crazy house!!

But you made a fair point that most people are just unaware of the amount of tracking that technology is doing in their everyday lives. On the Internet people think they are anonymous but the reality is completely the opposite, you are tracked by cookies and ip addresses everywhere.

Many mobile phones have GPS tracking and everything is recorded. In towns and cities, there is CCTV appearing on every street corner. You can't walk down the street but there are satellites in space photographing everything around you.

Right now today, you can get a chip implanted in your pet dog that will identify your pet if he gets lost. How long before every human person gets one implanted shortly after birth to last a lifetime. I think i saw something similar in another Arnold schwarzenegger movie.

Like it or not, big brother is watching!!

S.A. BOINC wrote:...In towns and cities, there is CCTV appearing on every street corner. You can't walk down the street but there are satellites in space photographing everything around you...

Please stop already. Now you're making me paranoid. Seriously if I'm being watched I don't wanna know about it. I begin to understand the position of people who never leave the house. Then again maybe not.

S.A. BOINC wrote:Right now today, you can get a chip implanted in your pet dog that will identify your pet if he gets lost. How long before every human person gets one implanted shortly after birth to last a lifetime. I think i saw something similar in another Arnold schwarzenegger movie.

It wasn't Sixth Day by any chance? (I'm guessing. I didn't watch the entire movie).

stackoverflow wrote:

S.A. BOINC wrote:Right now today, you can get a chip implanted in your pet dog that will identify your pet if he gets lost. How long before every human person gets one implanted shortly after birth to last a lifetime. I think i saw something similar in another Arnold schwarzenegger movie.

It wasn't Sixth Day by any chance? (I'm guessing. I didn't watch the entire movie).

No, it was whatever movie that Arnie ends up traveling to Mars because he must save the planet. He gets an implant at one stage and during the movie, he has to remove the tracking implant so the bad guys cannot track him anymore.

Big brother is only watching you if you are watching big brother!

S.A. BOINC wrote:No, it was whatever movie that Arnie ends up traveling to Mars because he must save the planet. He gets an implant at one stage and during the movie, he has to remove the tracking implant so the bad guys cannot track him anymore.

Oh... I remember that movie... vaguely. I never watched it though... Total Recall. Read some - but not all - of the plot here... sounds worth a watch, if i can find it.

S.A. BOINC wrote:Big brother is only watching you if you are watching big brother!

What does that mean?

Yes, that was it, "Total Recall". It was a classic film, i love stuff like that!

The big brother comment.......

You will only get paranoid about the police if you are doing something to break the law. You will only get paranoid about your teacher if you are breaking the class rules. You only get paranoid about things that you have a good reason to be paranoid about.

I'm not paranoid about anything, i don't care who is watching me.

The big brother comment...

Its not that simple. Not always. What if you aren't breaking the law and simply want to move about anonymously/without being watched?

stackoverflow wrote:The big brother comment...

Its not that simple. Not always. What if you aren't breaking the law and simply want to move about anonymously/without being watched?

Then you need to buy a disguise!

Get a nice fake beard and dark glasses

http://www.disguisescostumes.com/

S.A. BOINC wrote:Then you need to buy a disguise!

Get a nice fake beard and dark glasses

I was going to point out that this would draw attention, but then again people might think I've lost my mind. So perhaps thats an excellent disguise since most people pay deranged people no heed.

S.A. BOINC wrote:http://www.disguisescostumes.com/

You've made use of their services I gather?

stackoverflow wrote:

S.A. BOINC wrote:Then you need to buy a disguise!

Get a nice fake beard and dark glasses

I was going to point out that this would draw attention, but then again people might think I've lost my mind. So perhaps thats an excellent disguise since most people pay deranged people no heed.

S.A. BOINC wrote:http://www.disguisescostumes.com/

You've made use of their services I gather?

Naaaa...... I'm too scientifically minded for wearing disguises. I was never one for parties