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The British look ahead to 'robotic rights'

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 8, 2007

Robots might one day be smart enough to demand emancipation from their human owners, raising the prospects they'll have to be treated as citizens, according to a speculative paper released last month by the British government. Among the warnings: A "monumental shift" could occur if robots were developed to the point where they could reproduce, improve or think for themselves. "Correctly managed, there is a very real possibility for increased labor output and greater intelligence to be provided by robots that will ultimately lead to greater human prosperity and an improvement of the human condition," the report said. However, it warned that robots could sue for their rights if these were denied to them. The research, commissioned by the U.K. Office of Science and Innovation's Horizon Scanning Center, looks ahead to 2056 to identify issues "of potentially significant impact or opportunity." 

Tokyo stores to beam specials to passers-by

Stores in central Tokyo are set to beam news of special offers, menus and coupons to passers-by in a trial run of a radio-tagging system. The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project, which launches in the glitzy Ginza district this month, sends shoppers information from nearby shops via a network of radio-frequency identification tags, infrared and wireless transmitters, according to the project's Web site. Shoppers can either rent a prototype reader or get messages on their cell phones. The tags and transmitters identify a reader or phone's location and match it to information provided by shops. RFID uses a tiny computer chip to store data, which are transmitted wirelessly by a tiny antenna to a receiver - in this case, the reader or the phone. The technology has raised concerns about the erosion of privacy in society. But RFID also offers benefits. The chips, embedded in tags, now track pallets in warehouses and let drivers pass toll booths without stopping. Some Japanese schools have installed it to log when students enter and leave - serving as a warning system for children who skip class. The trial is scheduled to run from Jan. 21 to March 10.

Spam fighter fades into e-mail history

The Open Relay Database, a tool e-mail service providers used for years to help curb the spread of spam, has ceased operation after five years. For years, spammers exploited e-mail servers with open relays - those that accept mail from anywhere for relaying to anywhere else - to pass along their junk pitches. Service providers responded by using lists like the ORDB to block all mail - including legitimate messages - passing through open-relay servers, in turn pressuring operators of such relays to accept outbound mail only from their own customers. Mail-server software also has been shipping with the relays closed by default, such that open relays are less of a threat. These days, spammers use zombie computers, generally home PCs taken over by viruses and other malicious software, to relay spam such that messages appear to come from legitimate customers. Lists that target zombies, as well, such as one from the Spamhaus Project, are more effective. The Danish volunteers who ran ORDB shut down the project rather than expand it to include zombies - something that would have taken a lot more work without adding much to resources available from Spamhaus and elsewhere.

Microsoft thinks it knows what you want

Microsoft Corp. has started linking users' search habits with other personal information as it prepares to show more personalized advertisements. With the use of small data files known as cookies, Microsoft can link information users provide when they sign up for Hotmail e-mail and other services with data on what they view and search for on various Microsoft sites, such as those for maps, Web journals and finance. Microsoft uses that information to build a profile for a certain class of users and sell marketers the opportunity to reach that targeted group as they surf Microsoft properties. Microsoft found that behavioral targeting increased by as much as 76 percent the likelihood a visitor would click on an ad. Although critics worry about companies knowing too much about their customers, Microsoft and other proponents of behavioral targeting believe users ultimately benefit when they see only ads that are relevant to them.

Hewlett, Packard at rest after tour

For five months, Sun Microsystems owned a life-sized painted cutout depicting the co-founders of its rival, Hewlett-Packard Co., the product of a zany, cross-country art project. Sun snapped up the painting for $6,000 in August after HP refused to buy it for the company lobby, and the piece became a jocular fixture on Sun's Menlo Park, Calif., campus. Photos of the men appeared on the Web draped in a Sun T-shirt, posed in front of Sun products, and the piece eventually made its way to the men's alma mater, Stanford University, after numerous other stops in the San Francisco area. But the weary travelers - actually the likenesses of William Hewlett and David Packard - appear to have finally found a permanent home: the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. Sun has donated the Global Positioning System-enabled plywood cutout - known as H&P and featuring the two men sitting atop the garage where they founded the company almost 70 years ago.

[Last modified January 7, 2007, 20:02:48]