Like many people, I have a love/hate relationship with Big Data collection.

There are so many benefits to be gained by the processing of data, and so many aspects of privacy to be lost.

This case is no exception.

Over at Watch_Dogs – WeareData, you can take a look at three cities – London, Berlin, or Paris – and observe all manner of data activity in live time. Here’s a screenshot I took of Kensington Gardens, where we were sitting just a couple of days ago. All the icons are clickable (on the live site), so you can read just who is saying what at any given moment.

Source: WeareData

The spooky sound effects and ambient noise on the site do nothing to decrease the sense of being privy to Big Data spyware, although I am missing the data being sent by all the exercise programs so I can see just how efficiently various Hyde Park runners are training today. And what about all the chips implanted in dog ears so I know whether my favorite hound is out on a walk right now? Watch Dogs, indeed.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go in the garden for the rest of the day and leave all my electronics in the house.