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| Wednesday, 11 June 2003 |
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Priceline.com creator turns focus to anti-terror system LOS ANGELES, Tuesday (AFP)-Jay Walker, the creator of Internet innovator Priceline.com, has set his sights on a system of cameras and monitors trained on airports, reservoirs and power plants to try to prevent terror strikes. "We are thinking of a local system in the states to improve security in this country," said Steven Hofman, an aviser to Walker Digital, which is run by Walker. Dubbed "USHomeGuard," the system would train about 1,000 webcams on sensitive targets and would be equipped with microphones, speakers and infrared sensors to measure temperature. Every five seconds, the cameras would relay an image to a Homeguard data center operated by another company. If any change is detected, Internet users working as "virtual spies" for 8-10 dollars an hour would have a look and report on their impressions. In recent months Walker and Hofman have made the rounds in Washington trying to drum up interest in the idea, which has been controversial both for its potential cost and because of fears it could be a leap toward a Big Brother culture, or create a real-life "Truman Show." While the cameras are supposed to be in isolated areas, some civil liberties advocates worry the system in the future could include some kind of facial recognition capabilities or programs that could track individuals, said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, quoted in Newsweek. But that has not stymied Walker's imagination and optimism. "The program would initially cost around 40 million dollars, in the first six months," said Hofman. Walker made a name for himself when he patented Priceline, an Internet portal that allows consumers to place bids on items from airline tickets to cars. The idea allowed consumers to drive down airline prices while helping carriers fill empty seats and cut some losses. Forbes magazine called him a latter-day Edison, and shares in his firm skyrocketed when it went public. During its first months in operation, Priceline received offers worth 244 million dollars and sold more than 67,000 plane tickets for about 15.5 million dollars. Soon after, however, an imitator called Webhouse offered access to a wide range of goods with a similar system. It collapsed, dragging down Priceline's share price. |
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