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Hello Real World

How long will it be before the virtual world and it's dangers breaks through to the physical world? Is it happening already?
Navarre

As technology advances we see the created virtual world becoming more and more aligned to our physical one. With the mobile internet network, geo-tagging, etc... These worlds are no longer as disparate as they were, as every bank hacking attack and virtual economy crash reminds us. How long will it be until a virtual action has a direct and instantaneous physical reaction?  Is that day here already?

There have been reports of people going missing in central London after using GPS to navigate to a location. There have been suggestions, so far unsubstantiated, that hackers were using local access points to hack the GPS software and lead people into the wrong location, where they would presumably be mugged or worse. While hacking is not a new phenomenon, this combination of virtual and real world crime is all the more disturbing as we move ever closer to total virtual-physical integration.

Oct 10
hackers


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  • Ruud Dirven
    Oct 10
    What the hell are you talking about, \\\"dangers\\\"? These technological developments are essential to saving humanity. Limiting access to virtual reality, augmented reality, obiquitous computing is a criminal act and any attempt to scare people by alarmist tactics should be a criminal offense.
  • Societysnoose
    Oct 10
    The connectivity that we are experiencing is never going to go away. What we need is to better secure personal networks, and prevent intrusive software from getting on you machines. Some of the best solutions are the easiest. For example, placing software to regulate what devices can connect, and only using encrypted files for traffic to and from are simple, yet extremely effective. There needs to be a movement for nations and citizens to take pro cations to prevent these types of problems. Overly computer system dependent processes, example: stock market, are going to have problems because they are just too dependent. We should let machines help us with our problems, not make them the solution.
  • Cobalt Skye
    Oct 10
    WorldVu was recently recalled as a result of deaths related to GPS misdirection. I personally have been involved in an incident (now erased from public perusal) involving my WorldVu and a road where, had certain drivers not been careful, I would have lost my claim to life. The people hacking said devices, like the GPS local sites and the WorldVu databases, seem to have a sinister end in mind. I do not believe that the augmented reality needs to be removed. I actually have not sent back my WorldVu unit. Instead, I experiment with it, trying to see what information is falsified and what information is safe. In my case, I was misled by false visuals, representations of actual geometry. I have compared the visual to the real thing, looking for differences, but I have not yet made any conclusions. I think that awareness of data reception is more important at the moment, than redeveloping systems. Systems can be hacked again, just as fast as we can redesign them. People, on the other hand, are hack proof.
  • Navarre
    Oct 10
    For clarification, I am not, and did not if you read the article, suggesting that we should try and remove or hinder the move to virtual world integration and virtual reality. For from it, I actually believe that the only future that can both provide for everyone that will exist while not inhibiting anyone's liberty is to exist in a digital form. It is because I am so for virtual integration that I feel we should be aware of the dangers.
  • Linza
    Oct 31
    People should probably know enough to double-check the location given by their GPS machine with their existing knowledge of the location. How many of us really travel to completely unknown neighborhoods very often, and alone?
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