| Re: MIT researchers fight gridlock with Linux [message #792951] |
Sun, 03 February 2008 18:49 |
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Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)
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| Re: MIT researchers fight gridlock with Linux [message #793035 ] |
Mon, 04 February 2008 05:54 |
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Scott in SoCal wrote:
>On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 18:39:42 -0800 (PST), Larry G
><gross.larry [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researchers are
>>testing a Linux-based automotive telematics system intended to reduce
>>traffic congestion. CarTel is a distributed, GPS-enabled mobile sensor
>>network that uses WiFi "opportunistically" to exploit brief windows of
>>coverage to update a central traffic analysis program.
>
>Don't they know that's illegal?
>
>BTW, there was another project similar to this that I stumbled across
>a few years ago. Basically, some Computer Science professor had a
>semester project where students were supposed to design a telematics
>system very similar to the above. I forget which university was
>offering this course - it might even have been MIT. What I do remember
>is that its connectivity was also based on exploiting unprotected WiFi
>access points in order to report back to a central server. It wasn't
>illegal back then, but the morality was still highly suspect, and I
>was very surprised to find a University professor basing a class
>project around the idea of stealing Internet acvess. Another key
>feature of that system was that each node would report its location
>and speed back to the central server in order to provide congestion
>data which was then shared in aggregate amongst all the nodes in the
>system, allowing them to make better routing decisions.
>
>When I mentioned the idea of such a system to r.a.d at the time, the
>response was overwhelmingly negative. As I recall, Brent was
>particularly vociferous regarding the potential privacy abuses. :)
Since when has academia been immune to the effects of stupidity? I
recall years ago a good friend of mine, one of the most gifted
developers I've known, gave a speech on the benefits of data
compression for one of his classes. The professor, now the head of the
department at the university, asked of what benefit data compression
would be.
A PhD or two doesn't mean that the possessor of such is intelligent;
only that they've supposedly been educated.
--
People don't confuse me with someone who gives cares.
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