It sounds appealing: Barely lifting a finger, you set your thermostat, start your coffeemaker,
turn on the lights, fire up your favorite playlist.
But what if the price of that convenience is your
private information?
Starting to sound a little less appealing.
All of those connected gadgets carrying out all these useful jobs are part
of what’s become known as the Internet of Things, and
their increased prevalence in everyday life is forcing everyone to consider a fundamental
give- and-take: comfort, or privacy?
Tech companies, wireless carriers, and all manner of startups are racing to connect whatever
they can, and the benefits have been self-evident- smart speakers can answer questions, order
groceries, or book a reservation.
Electronic monitors can let patients leave hospitals sooner, or
allow seniors to live at home for longer.
Looking forward, the worldwide adoption of 5G mobile technology will allow more IoT devices
to talk to each other without human intervention at previously unreachable speeds.
That means homes that look after themselves, and cars that take over the driving.
As far as industrial applications, think smart factories and
warehouses that can fulfill their own orders or notify supervisors to problems.
And yet all this promise comes with potential downsides for the customers who own these
devices.
First, there’s security, or the lack thereof.
Even if IoT devices have state of the art security, more devices means more potential
vulnerabilities.
In one such example, hackers accessed the digital thermometer in a casino’s
aquarium, and worked their way from there through the casino’s network to gain access
to its database of high rollers.
Things start to get scarier when you imagine malware infecting
a self-driving car or a surgical medical device.
Other worries concern business practices that are perfectly legal, if not well known.
Smart factories could be smart enough to track an
employee’s every move, including trips to the
restroom.
Health-trackers collect blood pressure and heart-rate information- but what if that gets
shared with your insurance provider?
It’s not unthinkable that a company would sell information
about a customer’s personal habits gleaned from one of its devices to advertisers, or
even to hostile governments.
And there are already examples of potential misuse, including 2019
reports that Amazon employees had listened to recordings of customers using its Echo
devices.
There’s also the question of utility.
Does your baby really need a smart diaper?
Does your pet need a smart door?
Does the function of all IoT devices make up for the increased electronic
waste they create?
Maybe we should ask Alexa.