According to Wikipedia, “The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. Typically, IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and cover a variety of protocols, domains, and applications.[1] The interconnection of these embedded devices (including smart objects) is expected to usher in automation in nearly all fields, while also enabling advanced applications like a Smart Grid.[2]
“Things, in the IoT, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters,[3] automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue.[4] Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize wifi for remote monitoring.”
An article was published yesterday about the Samsung smart TV “recording” your living room conversations and sending them off to a “third party” for evaluation – their small print stated:
“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”
Today, Samsung “fixed” the problem by changing the content of the small print.
We are living in a world where organizations like the NSA may or may not be recording our phone conversations and reading our email. We know that Google and others track our online presence “to provide a better experience” and target advertising.
It is scary how often I log into my Amazon account and they just happen to be displaying the very items that I was thinking about buying.
A little over a year ago, I wrote an article about video cameras being everywhere; today, I am starting to wonder about microphones. It is a slippery slope that we are starting to go down.
Your smart TV can listen to you and follow your commands – it is not that big of a stretch to imagine the rest of your appliances doing the same thing (I know that I have yelled at a few of them over the years).
Once people get used to the idea (my favorite scene in the Star Trek movie “The Voyage Home” is Scotty trying to talk to the mouse) they will not think twice about talking in the presence of these smart devices.
I can see the new version of wiretapping including TVs, toasters, refrigerators, washers, and any other smart device.
I grew up watching Star Trek and the Jetsons and thought about how cool it would be when you could talk to your house and have it do what you wanted. I still think it would be cool, but I am wondering if we are ready to give up all of our privacy for cool.
Now for my scary thoughts – I wonder if there is some device that most people seem to carry around that has a microphone and a transmitter in it.
Did you ever wonder what your phone is doing to run down your batteries when you’re not using it (my wife asked that very question this morning while we were driving into work). To paraphrase Elmer Fudd – Be very, very quiet, I’m hunting listening devices.