Internet of Things is the term used to describe the interconnection of computing devices embedded in everyday objects. This can include any common appliance, such as a refrigerator, microwave, cars, or even clothing. Nearly everything in your life could potentially get a microchip implanted in it in order to make it smarter and more customizable.
Now, obviously many of these things are starting to become implemented, there are many aspects where IoT can be included. For example, your refrigerator could recognize what items you commonly buy and order new products right to your door from there. On a large scale, entire cities could be designed to have Internet into almost every aspect of living. An example of how a smart city could look is shown in this picture:
Issues
The major issue that arises with IoT is the problem of security. The more items in everyday life that are connected to the internet, the more potential there is for a potential security breach. An example on a Forbes article about IoT gives the example of your toaster potentially getting hacked and therefore reaching the rest of the network in your home. Every item that is connected to Wifi needs to have security precautions and passwords.
Another issue comes with the political aspect of IoT, brining up issues of what Internet companies or IoT companies can store and share. One aspect of having everything in life being a smart device comes with the concern that everything about you would be stored on any appliance. From there, that information could be used to make your life easier, but again could be dangerous.
Questions:
1. How many things in day-to-day life can actually have IoT implemented in them?
2. Could having everything connected create unintentional problems like having technology take over as in a dystopian future?
3. Can peoples' decision-making be hindered by IoT?
Links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#6452de7d1d09
https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/the-internet-of-things-bigger/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-the-internet-of-things-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-iot-right-now/
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot
Hey Jake, I found your post to be extremely relevant to the growing advancements in technology. Although you did question the security of our lives through IoT connectivity, I think it will be impossible to escape it. IoT devices and products will eventually replace commonplace objects. This does raise a concern, and I think that companies and should look towards securing data for individuals to mitigate risk. At this point most things have the capability to join big data. I know that mirrors have become a recent development in the fact that they can now deliver news and updates to its user. In this day and age anything is possible.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting article Jake! Honestly, I feel like the IoT has already taken over most of our lives. People wear watches to connect to their phone that they have on them 24/7 anyways. To answer your second question, I don't think that technology will take over itself, but I think it's already taken over our own lives in a dystopian future kind of way. We don't speak to each other when together, just look at our phones/IoT devices! I think smart homes and IoT can improve our lives, but I think as humans we let it consume our beings.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the very near future, almost everything is going to be connected to the internet. As technology gets more advanced, more things will be integrated into the Internet of things. For example, I think it would make everybody's lives much easier if streetlights were connected to the internet, and the traffic algorithm could be updated based on live traffic patterns. However, once everything is connected to the internet, that opens up the possibility of a variety of dystopian futures, ranging from a revolt of the machines like Terminator, to some sort of surveillance state like 1984, or opens up the possibility of cyber terrorism if hackers got into enough internet of things devices to either shut them down or make them malfunction in damaging ways. I do think that the mass availability of data that the IoT gathers can cause people to second guess themselves if the data they gather does not match up with what they assumed to be true, and thus may modify people's decisions by giving them additional data
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that IoT creates security and privacy issues. Imagine that an Internet-enabled thermostat which adapts to your behavior patterns and responds to what's happening on the power grid. To do al that, it records more than your energy usage, it also tracks and record your home's temperature, humidity, ambient light, and any nearby movement. So literally it knows everything around you. That's pretty scary and the problems with data storage would be concerned. Because we don't know how well can the company of that smart thermostat is able to protect our data, or how will they use our data. For now, people have already got used to live with IoTs because they make our lives easier. But at the same time, we should consider how can we protect our privacy when we live with them. This probably required government's efforts.
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