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July 29, 2004
Files: Did They Stop to Think...
Found an article today on NYTimes.com (remember use BugMeNot for login and password) discussing the research of two Columbia University scientists; algorithms to pinpoint what an eye within a photograph is looking at (research paper here).
After reading the NYT article, the most interesting paragraph in my mind was:
Because the algorithms can track exactly where a person is looking, the system may one day find use in surveillance cameras that spot suspicious behavior or in interfaces for quadriplegics who use their gaze to operate a computer.
While there seems to be one angle of use with handicap interfaces, the surveillance camera option frightens me. Although I don't entirely believe the "no one has thought of using the cornea as a mirror" before concept. In 1992, Michael Critchton wrote a book titled "Rising Sun" where a major portion of the crime was answered thanks to the reflective surfaces in the room (the eye wasn't used due to the low quality of the video recording).
It seems that in the time it took me to actually fully think this through and post it, Slashdot discovered the same article. D'oh.
Posted by Dan at July 29, 2004 07:40 PM