The Internet of things should be understood as a kind of ecosystem, in which devices communicate with each other using the network, e.g. a home network or the Internet. This type of solution can be used for instance in intelligent houses, in kitchen appliances, at airports or in shops. IoT can be used for remote control of home heating, it enables fridge to order food and it makes your irrigation water your lawn automatically, if in the weather forecast for the next few days there is no rain.
At first glance it seems to be to a huge benefit for consumers, which is confirmed by the increasing popularity of this technology. The IAB report published last month shows (available for download http://iab.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Raport-Internet-Rzeczy-w-Polsce.pdf) that 40% of the respondents declared they owned devices using IoT and 50% said they desired to have such devices in the future.
However, I would like to point out that what was designed to be a convenience for all of us, can become our curse. Taking into account advances in technology, IoT will be using more and more sensors, cameras and data, which, together with Big Data, will allow better and more precise customer profiling as well as algorithm creation. Such actions are already taking place e.g. a few years ago American retail chain called “Target” basing on the purchases of a teenager, concluded that she was pregnant. Therefore, they sent her a package of materials related to motherhood. The package was picked up by her father and that is how he found out he was going be a grandfather (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102859/How-Target-knows-shoppers-pregnant–figured-teen-father-did.html).
That is why I encourage reflecting and being conscious while agreeing to the terms and conditions of services we want to use, because they can take over the control of our lives.
I agree with you Catherine, we should be really careful with these kind of technologies if we don’t want to give every information about our lives…
True, but no one will ever read terms of conditions before giving an agreement due to the size of ones. 53 pages of Apple iOS agreement… no way, just agree
Exactly, many producers know people do this and they take advantage of that. If you don’t want to read, you can always scan, however it would also be time-consuming.
Privacy considerations are crucial as technology continues to advance, and I think that individuals should stay informed about how their data is used in the evolving landscape of IoT. But in reality, everybody don’t want to spend their time reading it, so they just click Agree 🙂