Thread: Judging in Athletics

Originally Posted by Brenngun

But once it's done .... it's done. Could it be ....oh ..... ah .... difficult to coerce a computer program? Just thinking out loud is all.

No. It could have bugs or flaws in the recognition algorithm. It could fail to detect or understand certain things. It could be tampered with or tailored. It would be software so definitely able to be hacked. You remember when they introduced those new body scanners at the airport that let the TSA folks see your skin. And remember how it would be impossible to get pictures off it so it would not be a privacy concern? Yeah... that didn't last too long.

If you put your faith in software, you're in for a nasty shock. and I say that as someone who has been developing software and databases for the last 20 years.

The technology is on the way, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it wasn't possible. The xbox kinect uses body motion without a suit, but is no where near as nuanced to just plug and play. The only way to keep it from most modern hacking would be to keep it secured during transportation and while it was working. This would include keeping the system offline at all time. You would just need to display the ratings and update the bracket. However, I think that much of the draw to certain segments in the olympics is the controversy.