Rachel Metz is the IT editor of MIT Technology Review.  She specifically reviews things related to web and social media.  For 5 years, Rachel has served as a reporter in the technology industry at the Associated Press.  She’s also written freelance for the New York Times about technology and crime.  Rachel isn’t just a reporter, she’s also a hacker.  In 2003, she discovered a security hole in Palo Alto Unified School District’s wireless network.  She was able to see sensitive and confidential information about student’s records.  Since then, Rachel has been hooked on technology and writing about it.

In a recent article, Rachel discusses a new app called by Google called Ingress which is available on Android.  The Augmented Reality game requires players to join either the resistance or enlightenment.  Once on a team, players must “hack” portals which are located by points of interest within a city.  These can be something like a landmark, statue, or plaque.  Players can also link portals and create a territory for their team.  The game requires players to physically be at the location and get outside and explore their town.

A new Augmented Reality games fuses reality and video games.

When I first read this article, it reminded me of Harajuku Fun Madness from Little Brother.  Marcus and his friends played a game that would force teams of players to actually go on a scavenger hunt in the real world.  It also made me think of the monitoring the DHS would do based on people’s clipper cards and Fastraks.  Like the DHS, Google is probably also tracking user’s information and data.  While in Marcus’ world this information was used to breach privacy, this will probably be used for advertising purposes.  As users spend more time on mobile, location based advertising will likely become more and more important.  Google will most likely use the data collected to drive ads based on your location.  Let’s just hope Google is as innocent as they seem or else they Marcus’ story might become a reality.