If tech giant Google succeeds in a new project, devices will not even need cameras to track a user’s every movement.
Would it be nice if your thermostat reminded that you should bring an umbrella? Or that your TV would automatically stop your Netflix program if you got up. How close are you to your computer’s notifications? Sound dystopian? Google’s Advanced Technology & Projects division (ATAP) is aiming to achieve just that level of technology, WIRED reported. ATAP is reportedly studying proxemics (“the study of how people use space around them to mediate social interactions”) and radar applications to develop technology able to detect details such as body orientation and the direction a person’s head is facing, and act upon that data.
Google used radar before to track body movements. WIRED reported that the Nest Hub could detect both movement and patterns in sleepers, as well as their breathing habits. “The same Soli sensor is being used in this new round of research, but instead of using the sensor input to directly control a computer, ATAP is instead using the sensor data to enable computers to recognize our everyday movements and make new kinds of choices.” This raises all kinds of concerns about privacy and the invasive nature of Google’s tech.
WIRED and Google highlighted the fact that the technology would not need cameras as evidence of it being less invasive, but if technology can track your every move without a camera, isn’t that even more worrisome? How is radar “privacy-friendly” when, by ATAP’s own admission, environmental aspects like darkness affect radar less than cameras? What is the best way to make sure Americans can trust Google when they have such detailed data?
This research by ATAP will be part of a new YouTube series called “In the Lab With Google ATAP,” according to WIRED.
ATAP Senior Interaction Designer Lauren Bedal reportedly said, “We’re really just pushing the bounds of what we perceive to be possible for human-computer interaction.” This could even involve tech memorizing certain routines and making suggestions for “healthy habits.”
WIRED quoted Future Interfaces Group Director Chris Harrison saying, “There’s no such thing as privacy-invading and not privacy-invading,” because “[e]verything is on a spectrum.” Harrison admitted that Google is the leading data monetizer in the world, yet celebrated Google’s goal to make tech more “humanistic.” But with liberally biased Google in control, such “humanistic” technology is dangerous indeed.
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