Teen Saved from Seizure After Online Gaming Friend Calls Police 5k Miles Away

Teen Saved from Seizure After Online Gaming Friend Calls Police 5k Miles Away(goodnewsnetwork.org)

42 points by randomerr 6 years ago | 8 comments

danaur 6 years ago |

The article title doesn't seem accurate? Although I'm sure they had a faster response time to help it doesn't sound like the person was saved as a result of the actions

ComputerGuru 6 years ago | |

Anything could have happened. (But I agree, the title is a bit of a stretch.)

sansnomme 6 years ago |

For constant-surveillance companies like Facebook, a good way to justify the data collection would be to add automated systems to detect such problems. They already have algorithms in place for suicide prevention, it would be easy to increase coverage to stuff like seizure, heart attacks, and other problems that may correlate with long usage of computers. Even simple heuristics such as sudden keyboard depression and subsequent inquiry dialogs that are missed could help. Of course, ML on webcam vis-à-vis cats accidentally walking across keyboard would help to rule out false positives.

catalogia 6 years ago | |

> "Even simple heuristics such as sudden keyboard depression and subsequent inquiry dialogs that are missed could help."

As if the sticky-keys dialog didn't cause people enough hassle already? I don't want EMTs dispatched to my house because my cat sat on my keyboard and didn't have the presence of mind to click the "Don't worry, I'm okay" dialog.

There is tape over my webcam. But shit, what if I just fell asleep on the thing? Would firefighters knock down my front door because I used my keyboard as a pillow?

konfusinomicon 6 years ago | | |

Hopefully not, but it sounds like a damn good reason to see what's going on inside your house if some were so inclined

ceejayoz 6 years ago | |

Already happening. My Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation, and it'll call 911 if it detects a hard fall and I don't tell it I'm OK after a minute.

ASalazarMX 6 years ago | | |

Also if your heart rate is fast but you've been motionless for 10 minutes. It is so useful, if only it would let me veto exactly who has access to all the information it collects.

Apple may be a bastion of user privacy now, but medical data is much more valuable than other types of tracking. People spend a lot on health.

throwaway-22 6 years ago | |

Don't worry, all that is coming this decade.

This is a positive note of non-invasive tracking (they knew each other enough that he shared his address) it's going to get blurry when you have companies doing the same.