Digital tar pits
I bought a used car recently that was digitally equipped. You know, complex computer gizmos that computer mileage per gallon or hectares per dram or something. Anyway, there is a digital memo feature on the console that allows you to make dozens of voice recordings. In case you think of something while you're driving down the road, like reminding yourself to buy bananas or something.
So, since it was a used car, I wondered if there was anything recorded already. Being a bit of a digital voyeur, I checked. There was. Dozens of messages, mostly of the "what does this button do?" variety. There was a nice several minute monologue about the previous owner's wife's breasts and a bit of humor when the wife in question was told to record a message and asked what she should say and was told, "say something stupid, like you usually do."
There's a lot of these digital tar pits out there now, trapping and preserving things. Microwaves and cars with voice recorders, log files everywhere, hidden video cameras and indestructible email that will bubble to the surface someday in the future when we least expect it.
I would imagine that we're only a few years away from the point at which most digital artifacts will have some kind of audio and video I/O. This coupled with a little flash memory will play havoc with conventional views of privacy.
Posted on June 12, 2007
