I was reading an article yesterday about how facial recognition is getting so good that there are apps being built for cellphones that can identify random strangers from photos (taken as you walk along with your cell phone).

The article was bemoaning the fact that this was a “further invasion of our privacy” and that pretty soon nothing we do would be private.

I then moved on to another article that talked about how Google(?) was working on an algorithm that could evaluate the writing style of someone online and make a good correlation as to who actually wrote it. Even if the author had posted anonymously or with a pseudonym.

The article was bemoaning the fact that this was a “further invasion of our privacy” and that pretty soon nothing that we do online would be private.

But is this idea of “privacy” such a good thing? Ultimately, what it really is is the idea that we can go out in public or online and be anonymous.

And some people see anonymity as the same as the freedom to do anything they want. And as we saw in London over the past few days, anything they want seems to cover a wide swath of things that most civilized societies consider wrong.

Some examples of things anonymous people do:

• looting and destroying property
• verbally harassing people
• generally behaving like boorish trolls

And people who are willing to stand up and say who they are, thus taking responsibility for their actions, tend to avoid these actions, not necessarily because they don’t want to do them, but because they know that they are impugning on their good name if they do so. Because they are not anonymous.

I think of the (moronic) individuals who went looting in London and then posted photos of themselves and their spoils online. With face recognition software, they are no longer anonymous. And they can be held responsible for their crimes.

Internet trolls who write hateful comments on forums and blogs just because they are anonymous might think twice if they knew that their comments would be identified as being from them. And even if they didn’t think twice, their friends and family might have a better idea of what thugs they are friends with or related to.

I wish more people would stand up for their actions, and stop hiding behind anonymity.

Very happy to report that I now am getting both Analog and F&SF delivered to my iPad.

The layout is somewhat hard to read in the default mode, but I quickly switched to one column viewing for a better experience. The first story I will read is by Robert Reed.

You may be wondering how this will fit in with my goal to read all the SciFi finalist novels, and that would be a good question. To answer let me say that I am easily bored. So if I am slogging through an otherwise good but long book (Matter, I am talking to you!), I can now take a break with a shorter story to mix it up.

Plus, I have been reading my dad’s copy of both these magazines for thirty years, and I want them to keep publishing, so I feel I should support them. And both magazines digitally are less than $5 a month with tax, so it’s a great deal.

If you have a Kindle or a computer that can use Kindle apps, I recommend getting these magazines. They (along with Asimov’s, which I am debating getting too) provide great short speculative fiction.

And now I must return to reading. I have a lot on my list. Status: page 164 of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Who has a story in the F&SF I’m reading too.

I have decided to read or re-read all the books on the list of finalists for best Science Fiction and Fantasy from NPR.

I just finished Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre. This is one of the first science fiction books I remember reading and re-reading. I know I read others before this one, but this one really stood out in my head as something really interesting. Mark was laughing because my copy (most likely from 1978 when it was published) was tattered and worn. Because I’ve read it so many times.

Today I’m starting The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. This is another favorite from childhood. I’ve read it easily as many times as Dreamsnake, and I’ve of course seen the movie several times.

1632 should be coming in the mail in a few days. I requested it in a swap on Goodreads, and I’m trying to find 1984 in my collection.

I finished Chapter 19 last night. Very stoked. It’s moving along quite nicely. Chapter 20 is currently Offline Web Applications. But I think I need to re-order it to put Web Storage before it.

The other thing writing this is doing is making me more and more interested in writing a new theme for this blog. I’ll make it HTML5, but I’m not sure if I’ll use my art for it or not. I’ll have to think about it. Of course, that isn’t going to happen until after the book is completed.

In Jaryth news:

• He was driving with Mark and they passed the place where we had the (minor) accident in the truck last year on July 4th weekend. And Jaryth says to Mark “Truck broke!” Holy cow, he remembers that?
• He refers to the shed as “the big door” only now he’s starting to call it the “shad” and I am calling it “the big door.”

If you didn’t know, I’m working on a book—Sams Teach Yourself HTML5 for Mobile Application Development in 24 Hours, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time.

I just finished chapter 17—HTML5 Links. Whew! And I hope to have chapter 18 done by Saturday.

It’s hard because this weekend was the first really sunny weekend we’ve had all year, and I had to sit inside for a good portion of it writing about HTML5 Drag and Drop. (Thanks, Sandi, for the suggestion for how to lengthen it! While I didn’t implement your suggestions—it ended up long enough without any sex scenes—I’m still looking forward to writing Drag and Drop—the “Good Parts” Version!)