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"Another reason why privacy could be just a passing fad, terrorism is going to get too good. [1997]"
- Larry Niven
 |
| Alibi Archive | ||
| A recording made of transmissions from a personal implant that perceived everything that happened to that individual. |
On this alternate Earth, everyone had a Companion implant that constantly transmitted the minutia of your life to an archive.
| "Since the day you were born, you've had a personal recording cube in the alibi-archive pavilion adjacent to this very Council building. And it has recorded everything you've done, every moment of your life, as transmitted by your Companion. "And ... every day of your life, you enjoy the peace and safety made possible by that very recording... You know that as you walk at night, the chances of you being the victim of robbery or murder ... are almost zero, because there's no way to get away with such a crime." |
| Technovelgy from Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax),
by Robert J. Sawyer. Published by Analog Science Fiction in 2003 Additional resources -
|
The images and other data flowing from an implant into the alibi-archive could also be "tapped" or viewed by someone else.
Thanks to Chris Johnston for pointing this one out.
"...the transmissions from Scholar Huld's Companion are being monitored directly by a living, breathing human being as they are received at the alibi-archive pavillion..."
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and Technology from Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax)
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'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
