Post PC Era: Utopia or Nightmare?

Imagine being awoken late at night by the sound of a downstairs window smashing and the rustling of someone going through you belongings… Your reaction? You would probably turn over and go back to sleep because a chip in the window frame would detect the window breaking and the even smaller RFID chip would alert the Police through the wireless network that engulfs the city. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds, we are quickly moving towards such a society due to the combination of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and Ubiquitous Computing (in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities, making the present user/PC interaction obsolete) The so called next generation of computing.

In South Korea 40 miles from Seoul, a city is being built where everything is connected and is searchable by the public, business, local and national government. New Songdo, when completed in 2014 will have cost $25 billion, will be home to 65,000 and be the work place to approximately 300,000. It will have its own “Central Park” (with Venice style canal water way no less) American run Schools and hospitals as well as golf courses etc. John Kim the vice president for strategy at New Songdo City Development, a joint venture of the Gale Company, an American developer, and POSCO E&C, a subsidiary of South Korea's giant steel company says “U-life will become its own brand, its own lifestyle, It all starts with a resident's smart-card house key. The same key can be used to get on the subway, pay a parking meter, see a movie, borrow a free public bicycle and so on.”

A lot of this Technology was developed in the US but the lack of ethical obstacles in South Korea mean it is being used as the test bed before being rolled out in the United States and across Europe once the pesky privacy issues has been surmounted. Of course tech like this is amazing and very useful for a variety of reasons. The developers claim an old man falling over in his home would be detected by the pressure sensitive floor thus alerting the authorities, and the stress of a lost pet would be a thing of the past due to the ability to "real time" search its location on a suped up Google earth type interface.

This technology that allows a person to be located and listened to have benefits for organisation's (public or private) and they may not be all that good for the normal person. Indiscretions like putting an empty bottle in the “wrong” bin would mean a fine could be emailed straight to the offender. Didn’t press the button at the road crossing? The city authorities will fine you before you get home. Criticise the boss at the water cooler? You are sacked by the time you get back to your desk.

That is only a minor potential draw back. The real worry though is a totalitarian regime getting its hands such technology. There have been reports already this year of local councils in the UK of misusing powers granted after 9/11 to spy on families to see if they qualify for a school placement in a particular area as well spying on their own workers if they are suspected of feigning sick or to even minor bad practice like taking lunch breaks early or smoking. And that is the UK, In a less tolerant country. Making an off the cuff remark about the lack of intelligence possessed by the national leader to your partner over dinner and a black uniformed stasi group could be walking through your front door before you finish dessert.