*Happy to see the Gumption blog cover this important event.
*In some ways, these geek blogs are better than being there. They've got all
the links pre-installed.
http://gumption.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/notes-from-ubicomp-2009.html
"Tamara Denning presented "A Spotlight on Security and Privacy Risks with Future Household Robots: Attacks and Lessons", which almost seemed like a work of science fiction, (((no kidding, wow, etc etc))) describing how household robots - such as Rovio ("a WiFi enabled mobile webcam") or Spykee ("the WiFi Spy Robot") - could be hacked via unprotected - or underprotected - wireless networks, and used for eavesdropping, minor vandalization, tripping up or simply confusing the hapless human residents ... or band together with other hacked household robots to create larger scale mischief and/or destruction ... creating a whole new dimension of cyber-bullying ... and/or an evil new twist to crowdsourcing.
"To illustrate the risks, she showed a video of a robot stealing keys that had fallen on the floor (if I can find it, I'll add a link, or embed it here). One of the issues she raised was that some of these robots are designed for children ... and one can imagine "Trojan robots" given as gifts...."
(((Also, the presentation at UBICOMP09 about redesigning Ubicomp for the
paranoid-voodoo practices of Brazilian Pentecostalists was probably
pretty intense seen in person, as opposed to hilarious when clicked on
at a safe distance.)))
"Globicomp" for the global favela underclass:
