http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/11/google-body.html
On Nov 26, 2007, at 12:51 PM, { brad brace } wrote:
>
> Information search giant Google, Inc. announced Thursday
> the release of Google Body, a search service aiming to index
> the internal and external anatomy of every living creature
> on the planet. "Google has long been dedicated to making
> information both useful and universally accessible," notes
> Google VP of Product Development Eric Hind. "We're happy now
> to extend search to information about human bodies, mine and
> yours, inside and out, from the number of follicles on my
> head to the length of the President's toenails."
>
> The project, known as Google Body, sees the company
> partnering with public transportation systems, libraries,
> and motor vehicle departments to place scanning equipment in
> high-traffic doorways and public thoroughfares. Though
> details of the agreements are scarce and reportedly subject
> participating city and state officials to strict
> non-disclosure terms, Google's announcement confirmed that
> the project is active in several major U.S. population
> centers, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and
> New York City, with agreements with at least 16 other cities
> in late-stage negotiation. "We've passed proof-of-concept at
> this point," adds Hind, Rand now our focus is scalability
> and rolling this thing out nationwide."
>
> The service, which has been available for some three months
> to invitation-only beta testers, enables users to search for
> aggregate information about the anatomy of user-defined
> groups. "The service is a boon to the medical research
> community," says Dr. Jennifer Guns of the Johns Hopkins
> Clinic for Specialism. "Nothing will replace truly
> controlled trials, but the ability to get a snapshot of,
> say, the blood pressure of men between 50 and 65 on New
> York's Upper East Side, can certainly give companies an idea
> of where they might best spend their research dollars.
>
> Early testers have remarked upon a fuzzy-logic "match my
> organ" feature, which helps users get in touch with the
> nearest, most suitable donor for multiple organ systems. "We
> think of Body as way to bring people together," remarks
> Google's Hind. The most common searches among testers,
> however, exploited the service's ability to produce
> three-dimensional images of the bodies of individual
> subjects. "I was shocked when I saw it," exclaims Larry
> Blender of Carson City. "I mean, one, where did they get a
> 3-D rendering of my ass, and, two, does my ass really look
> like that? I admit that I satisfied some of my curiosity
> about a few of my neighbors and co-workers before I thought
> to search for myself, but I was still really shocked to see
> it up there."
>
> The service has understandably raised concerns among privacy
> activists, who point to reports that early users include
> some well-known insurance companies and two prominent
> executive recruiting firms. "You know what the top two
> search terms are, after 'ass'?" asks David Deerfield of
> People and Privacy, a privacy-focused community outreach
> group. "They're 'aorta' and 'arterial plaque.' Who do you
> think is conducting those searches? There's no doubt in my
> mind that there are insurance company bots scouring this
> thing and we think it should stop."
>
> Responding to criticism from privacy groups, Google's Hind
> pointed to the program's opt-out policy. "We are very
> concerned about user privacy, and that's why we will not
> make publicly available any information about anybody who
> let's us know they do not want to participate by wearing an
> Opt-Out headband when in public. Google archives information
> about those individuals, but does not make it searchable."
> The yellow and black vinyl headbands can be requested free
> of charge by writing to the company at its Mountain View
> headquarters.
>
> http://bbrace.laughingsquid.net/abstraction-engine.html
>
>
>
>
>
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