The ming vase case is a problem for internet and social networks. That is something we must learn to avoid.

The biggest threats from AR are distraction and coordenation of crime activities.

Soon, soldiers will be using coordenation by AR for good or bad.

The most creative use for criminal activity I can remember is forcing someone to rob a bank using AR-glasses, while he is seeing is son being hijacked.

It’s not surprising that with any new tool there will be ways to use if maliciously. However, occasionally a technology dramatically changes the game. For example, by reducing the effort needed to get meaningful results, Data Mining has transformed our relationship to casual data tracking.

One the one hand Augmented Reality can similarly redefine our visualization of data to give a wholly new experience of our environment. On the other hand, any active participation in an AR landscape is tied to geo-tagged micro-blogging (what I call Geogging) and the potential for vast, emergent pattern tracking.

Computer games offer a huge insight into possible future uses of Augmented Reality. I originally became interested in the potential of AR when playing the Parkour game Mirror’s Edge; from the first-person perspective of running around city rooftops (often pursued by police), paths of escape are indicated by colour codes. I see this provision of leveraged information as key, providing a situational awareness advantage in any sort of conflict.

Shady characters of the criminal underworld (or whichever Badguy you’re worried about), can tag and share spatial/temporal information with each other in the same way Crackers share exploits and Phishers share creditcard numbers.

Consider the GPS in Grand Theft Auto. How hard would it be to crowd-source police car locations with an iPhone app, augment your GPS, and orchestrate a getaway? It’s something thousands of people have practised, stoned at home on their couch.

Hiro from Snowcrash can use his Augmented Reality to get a free car, with a pinch of social networking.

Finally, as mentioned above, the use of AR applications will fuel the shift into geo-tagged social networking/micro-blogging. Local police already monitor Facebook and Twitter to pre-empt flashmobs and illegal parties. The unintended composite power of a constellation of personal/spatial/temporal data will be enormous, and there is no barrier to access; anyone can use it.

I am currently working on PhD research into Augmented Reality and micro-blogging and their use to collaboratively map an urban landscape (I.e real-time maps of crisis situations, such as an earthquake). I have written about this recently in an article called Building Point Clouds of Emotions.

Get Layar and use the airplane locater, then I could blackmail airlines and demand £10 million not to shoot down their planes. I would be able to point my android at the skies and see what airline that is in the distance, if they haven’t paid I’d use one of my ground to air missiles to shoot it down. they would soon pay!

I’m not sure of the market value of a ground to air missile but an AR app that shows me the location of the nearest ATMs would be useful, then I could drag them away in my 4×4 and take the money while saving for my missiles.

All thats missing is a layar that will tell me the location of the nearest police cars so I know when to plot my perfect crime.