Editorial: 鈥�Taking the chance out of chance encounters鈥�
IMAGINE a 鈥減re-social鈥� network 鈥� a bit like the 鈥減re-crime鈥� unit that figured in . Such a network would predict where users will go, how long they will stay and who they are likely to meet there.
It may sound Orwellian, but a team which has developed technology that does this believes it could spawn a novel form of social network 鈥� one which tells its users where and when people with similar interests or habits are likely to congregate.
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The system, named Jyotish after the Sanskrit term for , was developed at Boeing鈥檚 in Urbana-Champaign. Boeing needs it to predict the movements of work crews in its huge aircraft factories, but the system鈥檚 developers, Long Vu and Klara Nahrstedt, reckon it can do a lot more.
Jyotish, Vu explains, draws up maps of people鈥檚 movements by monitoring the connections their smartphones make to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks, which have ranges of 100 and 10 metres respectively 鈥� small enough to pin down users鈥� locations and thus who they meet. Vu tested this by giving 79 volunteers Android smartphones whose Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modems were made trackable (Pervasive and Mobile Computing, ).
This detailed log of users鈥� movements and habits can be used to create a mobile version of Facebook that allows people in the same area to create a 鈥渉ang-out event鈥�, Vu says. 鈥淚ndeed, this version of Facebook could even recommend that people create a hang-out event because they are likely to be in the same location in the future.鈥�
聯The network could suggest that users hang out together as they are likely to be in the same place聰
Peter Bentley, a computer scientist at University College London, says this kind of predictive ability can be handy as long as users鈥� identities are kept private. 鈥淭hey could ensure that computer resources are in the right places at the right times so everyone would always have a good Wi-Fi signal, for example,鈥� he says.
However, he is concerned that users鈥� privacy could easily be compromised by such a pre-social network. 鈥淗ow would you feel if your future happenstance meetings were all predicted in advance? What if anyone could predict exactly where you will be and who you will be with? It鈥檚 a stalker鈥檚 dream,鈥� he says.
