Actually, from my own point of view I think this is the most terrible idea I have heard so far ... Let me explain why. Computer vision libraries like openCV have been introduced at first to stimulate a universal research help and to push people to actually use academic developped techniques into commercial products.
Many of the research in 'secret agent' stuff is funded by military divisions all over the world. One of the main reasons why all of this research stays closed for the public, is the fact that this opens doors to people, not respecting other peoples privacy.
Take for example the employer-employee situation. Since cheap camera systems have been created and sold, almost every employer thinks it is basically his right to spy on his employees. Only look at the amounts of forum questions that handle the detection and tracking of people through rooms, looking at how people behave with face detectors, ...
In my opinion there is a very thin line between what is morally correct and what is morally incorrect, which leads to many solutions being used for the wrong purpose. Stimulating this general behaviour by publishing a book containing projects that can effectively invade anothers persons privacy, seems just plain wrong.
I think there is a need for more interesting books, like:
- How to apply OpenCV computer vision algorithms in industrial applications
- How to apply OpenCV computer vision algorithms in medical/healthcare applications
- How to apply OpenCV computer vision algorithms in food processing
- ...
Just my two cents :) which are basically an opinion of someone, not more, not less :) If you feel like discussing this problem, feel free to contact me. If you would actually consider publisching a book containing these projects, I think an introductory chapter explaining the regulations of privacy and the influence of computers in a daily environment should be very interesting.
Actually after reading the authors comment I think their main goal is interesting, but I still doubt some of the topics :) And yes, I still agree that working out projects for interesting stuff, that do good, is still a better approach ;) Go cure cancer you!
The topics are just examples to stimulate people's imaginations, based on real projects that have already been developed. The plan was to use them as a jumping-off point, not a definite 'we will certainly include these'. It's definitely more garden shed than Wayne Enterprises. I'd love to be able to help cure cancer, but I'm not convinced it'd be possible!