Tag: privacy

Are Robots watching You? Experts Give an Urgent Warning about Spy Robots!

Tomy Omnibot-2000
Robots are often pretty embarrassing. Expect this to change, and soon.
I can imagine what you’re thinking: In a fight between humans and robots, we would win hands-down – we can just pull their plug out!

But robots have come a long way in recent years. Bill Gates recently said that we are standing at the dawn of a new era in robotics, likening this present age in robotic technology to where the computer industry was about 30 years ago. In the coming years, he says, we should expect robots to be a part of our daily lives. And we’re not talking about dumb vacuum cleaners or drinks dispensers here, but flying, walking, crawling, intelligent and autonomous artificial helpers.

Does this all sound far-fetched? Well don’t be too sure because experts in artificial intelligence have just published a stark warning that we must start to tackle some tricky ethical and legal issues now.

Welcome to the fascinating, bizarre and slightly frightening world of of robotics Read more

Loyalty Cards: What the Supermarkets know about You!

I bet that you own at least one loyalty or ‘reward’ card. They sound like a great idea – You get money and points for just doing your normal grocery shop! Well, if you think you’re getting something for nothing, then you’re wrong…

Ex-Home Secretary David Blunkett branded loyalty cards 'an invasion of privacy', but was he right?
The barcode bleep is like the soundtrack to modern society. And in the 21st Century, we must shop to survive. But when you use a loyalty card, every bleep sets off an invisible chain of electronic events: In the UK, purchases are instantly fed into a huge computer database for detailed analysis. But why, and for what purpose? Today’s blog explores the murky world of the supermarket loyalty card… Read more