We'll all have to be be Hoodies soon.....

....to escape the Eternal Surveillance Culture. Nick Carr points to the service being beta'd by Mugr, essentially:

Its "face-based" search engine, deployed through its own social-networking site and offered to other social networks and applications through an API, connects images of people's faces to information about their identities. So if you're at a bar, say, and you see someone you'd like to find out more about, you can whip out your cameraphone, snap a picture, upload the shot to Mugr, and get a message back telling you who the person is.

MugR indeed...and StalkR, IDThiefR etc etc

Am I the only one who doesn't think its a very good idea that random strangers can take pix of me - or lift them out of others' pictures - and find out my identity? I don't want to wear a hoodie and dark shades all day long, but is this what the world is coming to?

Mug'r's view is:

"face recognition, particularly face recognition that can be carried out over the web or with a cameraphone, invites immediate questions of privacy." But the company has an immediate answer: "the technology that powers mugr.com is not so terribly different as that possessed by many governments and law enforcement agencies. As such, there is no reason that the public should not have the ability to do what it will with such technology

OK, I'm starting up Anthraxr and NuclearBombr on that logic.............after all, its not so terribly different technology as that possessed by many governments either and i think the public has a right to have fun with this stuff too......

(Note to the literal minded - the above passage was deliberate irony, not a declaration of intent)

The other thing is, I voted for a government knowing it does this and I can - in theory - vote it out if it abuses my trust. Where do I get to vote on Mugr ?

Yes, I know that - in theory - its just Yet Another Social Network, and all the people doing it are consenting, adults (or pretend to be). I suspect from the student/geek worldview it all seems very "cool" (and I'm sure the tech is) but from a "what about the rest of human nature" point of view, lets face it this opens itself up to some pretty serious abuse options
We need a SERIOUS debate about the Inalienable Human Right to some privacy, very urgently, I think.

(Postscript...Initially I thought this was a p*ss take - I mean, MugR? - but decided they may actually be serious after reading the website. and if not them, someone will do this stuff so we may as well start the debate now)