Wired Magazine has a very interesting article titled “The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online” about how Hasan Elahi was using Lifestreaming to provide a transparent view to his life as an alibi for the FBI who have mistakenly listed him on a terrorist watch list.
From the article:
Elahi’s site is the perfect alibi. Or an audacious art project. Or both. The Bangladeshi-born American says the US government mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list — and once you’re on, it’s hard to get off. To convince the Feds of his innocence, Elahi has made his life an open book. Whenever they want, officials can go to his site and see where he is and what he’s doing. Indeed, his server logs show hits from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President, among others.
I think his use of live tracking is very nice. That is the one source of info I’m looking to add to my own stream which will require a smart phone paired up to a service. I’m looking at either Jaiku or Plazes as possible services to use and have really been keeping my eye on the new Samsung i760 phone.
I like life streaming but showing your credit card receipts to the world is one step too far. I see that this guy is just doing it to prevent further investigation but he’s certainly giving his privacy away. Completely.
Carsten, you bring up a good point. Everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to privacy and I’m sure everyone will have different lines they’re willing to cross when it comes to creating a lifestream. But the beauty is that the limits are only based on personal choices and the tools capable of delivering them.
That’s true, of course. At least when you still have a real choice.