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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

The problem , in my opinion, is not that you can use the technology to track 
your (minor) daughter, it's that someone, not her guardian, could also use 
the technology.  

That's not exactly what this article is about, but I'm sure someone can think 
of a way to use this technology to invade our privacy even more...bobf

--- On Mon, 9/29/08, rayzentz AT aim.com <rayzentz AT aim.com> wrote:

> From: rayzentz AT aim.com <rayzentz AT aim.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Individual tracking-carbon footprint
> To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 10:22 AM
> I've been telling students and parents at the treatment
> facility where 
> I work that children can be tracked this way, and have been
> able to for 
> several years now.  My soon to be 14 year old daughter will
> be 
> recieving a cell phone, for her birthday... <g>
> 
> Ray
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 9:53 am
> Subject: [Homestead] Individual tracking-carbon footprint
> 
> 
> 
> No comment....( I am not thinking, at all, of governmental
> and 
> corporate
> application)..........................bobford
> 
> *************************************************************************
> *
> 
> 
> Mobile phones to track carbon footprint:
> ----------------------------------------
> 
> Keeping track of your carbon footprint could become as
> simple as 
> slipping a
> mobile phone in your pocket: a London-based start-up
> company has 
> developed
> software for mobile phones that uses global positioning
> satellites to 
> work out
> automatically whether you are walking, driving or flying
> and then 
> calculate your
> impact on the environment.
> 
> Carbon Diem's inventors claim that, by using GPS to
> measure the speed 
> and
> pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode
> of transport 
> being
> used. It can therefore calculate the amount of carbon
> dioxide that a 
> journey has
> emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input
> from the 
> traveller.
> 
> The system's inventor, Andreas Zachariah, a graduate s
> tudent of the 
> Royal
> College of Art in London and chief executive of the Carbon
> Hero 
> company, said
> that Carbon Diem is the world's first automated carbon
> calculator.
> 
> Because it keeps a constantly updated diary of a
> person's carbon 
> emissions,
> Zachariah said that a user can easily track their
> environmental impact 
> and, if
> they choose, modify their behaviour to lower-carbon
> alternatives.
> 
> "We're facilitating people to make little changes
> and allow those 
> changes to be
> noted and registered and possibly shared," he said.
> "If lots of people 
> realise
> we're in this marathon [in tackling climate change] and
> we're not 
> running alone,
> then we actually think people will be motivated to stick to
> changes."
> 
> He has tested the software in Nokia and Blackberry phones,
> using 
> computer
> algorithms to predict the kind of transport a person is
> taking. He 
> claims that
> in tests over the past year, the software was almost 100%
> accurate in 
> working
> out when people were on airplanes or trains; it was between
> 65-75% 
> accurate at
> guessing when people travelled on buses.
> 
> Zachariah said he had the idea for Carbon Diem when he
> tried to work 
> out his own
> carbon footprint using the many online calculators
> available. These 
> usually
> involve manually entering the details of type of transport
> and the 
> length of a
> journey.
> 
> "The whole process is so painful," Zachariah
> said. "That's when I 
> realised it
> had to be effortless."
> 
> Zac
> hariah believes companies could also benefit from the
> software, as 
> firms
> committing to reducing their environmental impact may need
> to collect 
> travel
> data on their employees. He accepts there could be concerns
> over 
> privacy but
> says the software can be used to record only the carbon
> impact, not the 
> actual
> routes.
> 
> Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner, Robin
> Webster, said: 
> "Individuals
> have an important role to play in tackling climate change -
> and 
> technologies
> like the Carbon Diem could help people cut their carbon
> footprint."
> 
> The European Space Agency (Esa) gave the Carbon Diem
> software a 
> regional award
> last year in its European satellite navigation competition.
> It will 
> launch
> commercially in spring next year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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