Backbytes: Big Brother is watching what you eat

Apple iBeacons to be used by US Department of Health to harass staff into healthier eating.

When George Orwell had his vision for 1984 - replete with telescreens that watched you more than you watched them - he really didn't know the half of it.

Okay, we all know that the authorities really are watching us 24/7, not just with a blanket of CCTV screens (to which some councils really would like to attach loudspeakers so they could hector miscreants remotely from the control room), but also via the internet - all stuff that Orwell was just too unimaginative to envisage.

But a new "initiative" by the US Department of Health and Human Services (!) is planning to take this even further.

A bunch of staff are the unfortunate human guinea pigs in a system that will send warning text messages to them should they linger too long near a vending machine, while suggesting that they drink water instead should they pass the bacteria dispenser that is the office water fountain.

"The Health Department used wireless gizmos situated around the office that transmit signals to employees' mobile devices as they pass by. An app running on their smartphones interprets the data and delivers advice based on where they are," Bloomberg helpfully explained.

In the land of truly ghastly confectionery, one could argue that persuading people not to eat hideous snacks like Hershey vegetable-fat bars and Twinkies, "cakes" so vile that even bacteria would rather starve to death than tuck in, would be doing people a favour.

Or, they could instead load-up the vending machines with healthy and tasty packets of goji berries, and courgette and cucumber smoothies - that would be a sure-fire way of stopping people from going anywhere near the vending machine, although takings would also plummet accordingly.

We do, apparently, have Apple to thank for this nonsense with what it calls iBeacons - sensors originally intended for retailers so that they could follow and harass potential shoppers around their stores, via their iPhones.

Thanks a bunch, Apple. Aren't we followed around closely enough by our mobile phones already?