New technology from Switzerland will bring an end to compromising photos at domain conferences
After an incident involving a young, buxom domainer whose husband recognized her in photos from the TRAFFIC, New York conference – all while she proclaimed she had been at her mother’s in New Jersey, at the time – a new set of photography technology will be implemented.
Starting in TRAFFIC 2010 – the big domain “fest” of the year – all photos depicting domainers will be blurred out, using technology developed by a Swiss company. The concept is currently being used to blur out Swiss car plates and faces of unsuspecting Swiss bystanders; caught by Google Earth’s vehicle that roams the countryside.
“We thought that it’s embarrassing to claim you’re at one place and be found at another, said Rick Latona. “Domainers want to have some safe fun and trade without pressure from others. We had two options: issue face masks or to process all photos and blur the faces using military grade technology. So we opted for the most high-tech of the two – because at TRAFFIC we are the tech guys”, added Latona, smiling.
The technology will bring an end to the type of journalistic photography we’re used to seeing from domain conferences such as TRAFFIC, where domainers often under the influence of alcohol and the euphoria of mingling forget at times to be professionally presentable.
“At TRAFFIC New York this guy with a camera walks in the bathroom, clearly drunk, and starts taking pictures of everyone. There’s a pic of me somewhere, anxiously zipping up my fly”, said Thomas Garrins – a domainer from Portland. “Then I realized that Ron Jackson had one martini too many at the opening ceremony.”
The new technology will be partially funded by monetizing .tel domains as virtual business ads with the TRAFFIC logo instead of the current ugly purple button.
