The power of the mobile

In Howard Rheingold's chapter "Smart Mobs", he discusses how people have been able to connect and orchestrate large meetings or protests by using their cell phone. The cell phone gave people the opportunity to communicate quickly and somewhat discreetly so members of the group could be instantly notified of important information. This collaboration has led to many protests and uprisings, especially in the past two years. While this technology has been working in our favor is it possible that it could actually prevent these smart mobs? Even though the number of applications we can use to connect with other people is growing the technology and applications used for surveillance are also growing. Everything from our daily routine to our realationships, moods, health and calling habits can be examined. Not only is it monitoring these things but with help from computers they can also predict our future activities. They can also determine who are major influencers within our communities. Cell phones are the ideal technology to use for monitoring not only because they already track our every location (like the iPhones) but also because so many people own one. It is reported that nearly 3/4 of the worlds population owns a phone and with advancements in technology this number is sure to rise. Not only does a large population own phones but they take them everywhere and have integrated many of their other social devices in with their phones so they can have all of their information in one place. With the growing ability to be monitored it is more likely that smart mobs will be exposed before they have the chance to coordinate any large uprising or conflict.