Controlling Who Tracks Me (Transcript of Discussion)

Abstract

Our group is looking for applications in everyday life that involve information processing. Not Internet connected things, not things that are on the network, but things that are in everyday life. For instance, you may forget to buy milk; that’s an information processing problem. If your car gets a flat tyre, that’s probably not an information processing problem, but there may be information processing that can assist you.

One basic idea is to track your daily activities for your personal benefit. For instance, you may use devices that give you location awareness, or detect categories in your daily routine. If every Tuesday you throw your laundry in the car and go to the dry cleaners, then a device could conceivably detect this, and if on Tuesday morning it finds you in your car and you don’t have your laundry with you, it lets you know, beep, and tells you that something’s different; and you can either choose to ignore it or run back and get your laundry.