For my AppropriatingInteractionTechnologies class assignment this week I secretly installed OpenPaths on my husband’s phone for two days (okay maybe it was a week) and followed him on the open paths website. Although I felt guilty and had to repeatedly remind myself that I am not a creepy stalker, I also felt a gleeful CIA like power to be able to track movements of a person of interest.
It got me thinking about the question of how much information is too much? Its one thing that the CIA can track criminals but the fact that it is possible for me to break into his phone and track his movements made me felt like a possessor of an undeserved power. I was half hoping that a sudden unexpected behavior from him will justify this experiment. Maybe he will go off for drinks with his work buddies while telling me that he has a late client call. I would then be able to flaunt my technological prowess. It turns out that the poor guy has just been commuting between office and home and staying within the two buildings. The data made me realize that he has been working too hard and so I made an effort to clear out my weekend so that we can visit some of his friends.
While the outcome of this particular experiment was good it could very easily have lead to misunderstandings too. It made me realize that we have to be very careful while designing systems that use personal data. Companies like Facebook and Google probably face similar conundrum. They can use our personal information for good (targeted and useful ads) or in a less desirable way (selling our social graphs and preferences).
Graph showing we made a NJ trip this weekend to meet Manish’s friends.
Gray White & Black 