The Internet of Things and Sneaky Suspicions

Hello ATS! My word, I haven't been on for a while

Recently, a particular revolutionary concept in the world of technology has caught my eye, namely the Internet of Things. For those of you that may not know what this is, the Internet of Things is basically a collection of "smart" household appliances connected to each other via the Internet. With this connectedness, home life is theoretically made a lot easier; for example, while coming home from work you could use your phone to turn up the central heating, boil the kettle and switch on your television to your favourite channel. Sounds rather clever, doesn't it?

However, there are of course people concerned about the concept of a "smart home". If practically your whole house is connected to the Internet, what's to stop hackers or even government agencies from invading your privacy? Is this scaremongering nonsense, or a valid point to raise? I personally haven't yet formed an opinion but I thought I'd see what you guys think, as I'm interested to hear both sides of the argument

a reply to: Tenebris

I like the idea of an Internet of Things, because it's basically opening up the way to control everything in your entire house with your mere commands (voice commands in the near future, and gesture commands in the far future). Kind of like a mutant superhero I like and whose name looks a bit like Magento.

But then there's the privacy problem. And that is a major issue. Now if the network was completely isolated from any exterior grid, that would be fantastic.

a reply to: swanne

Having had my computer hacked and whatever else happened I don't like the idea. Think about psychological operations magnified.. There was this game called "eternal darkness." As your game character loses life or gets scared the game starts tricking you. The volume on your TV will go down.. Your save file will be deleted. Your controller will only work on some zombie thing or the controls might be mirrored. The TV will "turn off." All kinds of stuff.

It messes with your mind to the point you don't know if it's the game or your TV or your house that's going weird on you.

Can you imagine the ease you could break somone down with under a "smart house?" eternal darkness style?

a reply to: Tenebris

I'm not sure about turning on the heating, boiling tea or watching television. These seem like things we can already do today, with little effort.

We should think about the future, when thinking is obsolete. When there is a robot who thinks for us and who thinks that thinking is obsolete.

I am not talking about you. I am talking about your children.

a reply to: MorganMorgan

Fair point. At times, certain advances in technology concern me.

Before the internet of anything, people were doing this... with commodore 64's or other low spec hardware, attaching external circuitry to various household devices, so they could control them from a central location...

it's nothing new. What is new, is that it's now available to everyone, and sadly a large portion of everyone is incapable of opening a door without pushing it the wrong way... hence, all the problems arise of people being hacked etc.

Build a mote, fill it with alligators, cut all the wires leading to your house, and post guards at the entrance, with really big swords.

None of this internet of things for you!!!

i would hate to live in a world where machines and robots do everything for me. i often do things the long hard way just to partake in the human artisan experience. Like buying canned pasta sauce, or prepared sausage. I'd rather grind my own meat and make it from scratch.

i don't like precanned.

First of all, I’d like to make it clear that I strongly support the advancement of the sciences and technology. I work as a software engineer/developer and fully respect those at the forefront of change & progress. I believe that if we make the right choices, within 100-200 years we could transition into a world of make-believe. However, it’s far more likely that we don’t make all the right choices, and maybe even make a few disastrous ones. Giving a bunch of monkees the tools to manipulate the double-edged sword of high technology is basically a crapshoot. For every positive development, there also lurks a dark side.

Currently Google, and many other tech giants, are quite openly advancing and promoting the development of the “Internet of Things” (IoT). In the not too distant future each and every appliance in your home will be equipped with a network interface allowing it access to the Cloud. In other words, a direct connection to any company or organization they see fit. These appliances will monitor your behavior at home 24/7. The refrigerator will learn your eating habits and keep an inventory of what you have in the frig at all times. It may even alert you when you’re running low on certain items, or when an item is no longer safe to eat. It will also keep you informed on where the best deals are at neighborhood markets on refrigerated/frozen items, etc. Your oven might let you know when certain components are malfunctioning, or provide you with information on the best bargains in your area for the items you bake the most. It will likely bring up a displayable cookbook, as well, that you can scan for your favorite dishes. You may be able to give your appliances speach commands, doing away with all the knobs. And all of this sounds great. However, it will also send all this information to a corporate database somewhere so that someone can analyze it and create a very detailed profile of you. All for marketing purposes, mind you (cough, cough). They’ll know when you’re at home and when you’re not. They’ll know when you eat dinner every night, as well as your favorite foods. They’ll know when you watch tv and your favorite programs, when you listen to music and your favorite artists. They’ll know when you go to bed every night and when you leave for work every morning. They will also know what brand of toilet paper you use and the exact time every day when you take a sh--. Need I go on?

So, while I love hi tech, I do feel uneasy about IoT. Call me old fashioned, but when I get off work it’s comforting to know that there is somewhere to go where there are no prying eyes. It’s odd to me that so many folks are paranoid about the government spying on us when it’s Corporate America that really has the goods on us. Maybe since the companies are the ones to give us all the neat gadgets and flashy software, we trust them more than we do Big Brother. My only thought about that is, the clear trend these days is that Corporate America and Big Brother are quickly becoming one and the same.

Have Fun!!

The EU already has all electric appliances already hooked-up to the internet through their electric power source. Everyone's power supply at home carries information through the electric network which is specifically built for the EU secret services. From the same power network EU intelligence can transmit signals to all electric appliances and can communicate with things like you boiler (for example). For example it can power up or shut down your boiler or even overheat it and let it blow up. Every electric appliance has electronic circuitry in it, which allow the intelligence to communicate and interfere with its functioning.