The ‘Digital Bounty Hunter’
When we set up the Web Coherence blog the idea was not only to observe coherent behaviour on the Internet, but also to propose the creation of new creatures.
We start with the mix of the internet and the mobile phone camera – a powerful combination. In the case of the ‘dog poop’ girl, we saw how a communal sense of indignation sparked a witch-hunt. Think what could happen if people were actually paid to report antisocial behaviour?
Suppose we add a Geographical Positioning System to the mobile phone – this technology is already available, and will soon be a legal requirement in some jurisdictions. Now suppose the longitude and latitude can be superimposed on any digital photograph along with a tamper proof time signal. Add on a checksum and digital certificate that guarantees the image has not been tampered with by the likes of Photoshop, and finally pass laws that allow such images to be submitted as evidence in a court of law.
Certified images (or videos) can be e-mailed immediately to the authorities by the same phone that took the picture. Now suppose the photographer is paid 20% of every fine levied as the result of his evidence – we have the birth of a new job: the ‘digital bounty hunter.’ The state could pay these rewards directly and anonymously into the telephone account, and have the mobile phone payment system changed allowing credit on an account to be withdrawn at post-offices.
No more traffic wardens – we’re all Stasi now! Smoking in a non-smoking designated area, using a mobile phone while driving, jay-walking, vandalism, littering, and a hundred and one other crimes and misdemeanours could be policed and punished in this way.
Every honest citizen becomes criminalised, with society itself as the prison, and each prisoner doubling up as a guard. The state doesn’t need to pay salaries to the jailers, it’s all pay-by-results spying. At last, the ultimate efficient panopticon.
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