h.e.s.e. 
project
the international scientific Internet platform on topical issues
h.e.s.e.-UK News
Mobile technology convergence: just where is it taking us?
At the same time as school WiFi was being discussed in the news recently (see item below), the use of near-field communication was announced, to enable mobile phones to become ‘smart wallets’, speeding commercial transactions, but also facilitating marketing and tracking. People keep valuable things in their wallets that are not just credit cards or money: such as identification, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that smart wallets may be a future replacement for ID cards.
- Mobiles hope to be ‘smart wallet’ – ‘a sensible move’?
- mobile phone tracking
- and full GPS tracking
- ever worried where your children are?
- or your spouse / partner?
With the UK having the most surveillance cameras per head in the world, with all our roadside cameras equipped for number plate recognition, with sensitive microphones proposed to accompany cameras in cities, and loudspeakers to remind people to pick up litter as they are watched dropping it; with all our personal details and records, movements, phone calls, emails, Internet movements, available and increasingly integrated, and with ID cards around the corner – where is our privacy going? Or is privacy a luxury to be dispensed with in the interests of social order, crime and terrrorism prevention?
Before you shout ‘Luddite!’ and ‘paranoia!’ perhaps we should pause and look ahead and ask what outcomes are most likely from current social trends. After all, we’re on a roll, aren’t we? Technology is the solution to all our future problems ... Maybe.
Convergence is the matter of bringing technologies together: and why not have a single device for all our information access and communication needs, especially as miniaturisation continues, rather than many?
