IOT

Wednesday Fun Fact

Kevin Ashton is the man who coined the phrase “the Internet of Things,” and he was one of THE driving forces behind the RFID tagging wave, which tags everything from pets to trash cans to airplane parts to pill bottles to employee uniforms to smart appliances. Each RFID tag has a unique identifier, so you don’t know just WHAT the tag is on, you know exactly WHICH pill bottle/dishwasher/oxygen tank your information applies to.

I start writing about the IOT, and open up a magazine to find an entire column about Ashton and his drive to create network standards for using the data.

The universe is weird and wonderful.

Is Big Brother Watching Us?

So I wrote a bit on the Internet of things (IOT) yesterday, and my last line addressed the security issue of all this connectivity.

I think about this a lot. I love technology, but I always question what can be done with the information I am willing to share.

So is Big Brother watching us?

My answer is yes and no.

No, I don’t really think anyone is interested in my texts telling my husband to buy milk on the way home, so in that respect, I don’t think I am being watched.

But I also believe if Big Brother wanted to know I told my husband to buy milk on the way home…he could know that.

Not for nothing that a federal appeals court recently told the NSA to stop bulk collection of phone data. Read more about it here.

My advice? If you don’t want someone to know something, don’t put it in an email or in a text message. Share unicorns and rainbows on Facebook, but it is probably not the best place to rant on …about anything, if you ask me.

I worry about the generation that has grown up with this very public disclosure mindset. I am always telling my own kids they need to be more circumspect in what they are posting. Once out there? It is out there forever. And if you haven’t read them yet, stories about about public shaming and the (happy) backlash against said public shaming, something that was not even on the horizon five or ten years ago, abound.

And if you are not worried, maybe you should be. My daughter’s honors class was asked if the government should be allowed to read texts and gather that phone data. Every single student except my daughter had no problem with that.

Scary, right?

So You Want to know just what IS the Internet of Things…

This is the current term du jour. In fact, I’m going to a keynote speech next week titled The Internet of Things and Cyber Security (more on that in a later post!) given by Theresa Payton from Fortalice.

The internet of things (IOT) just means the way our daily lives are ever more connected…via the internet.

Have a Fitbit®? You are involved in the internet of things.

Request your receipt be emailed to you instead of taking home a piece of paper? You are involved in the internet of things.

Have you heard about cars controlled by the internet? You guessed it: the internet of things.

EasyPass? If you use that, you can figure out every trip you made into the city over toll bridges. Check maps and traffic with your smartphone? Allow push notifications with location tracking turned on? You are SO on the IOT.

When “things” are talking to each other, they are using RFID chips: Radio frequency ID chips. If you have a pet “chipped,” that is the little bit that was inserted just under your dog’s furry skin, identifying the dog and you as the dog’s owner. The technology is affordable and that kind of chip can be used in any number of devices.

Even your refrigerator can be part of the IOT–read this from LG and its SmartThinQ fridge:

Beautiful on the outside…and it lets you know what’s going on inside. Our refrigerator with Smart ThinQ™ technology* is the last word in food management. A quick check of the LCD screen tells you what’s inside, food that’s about to expire, even the ingredients you’ve got to buy to create a terrific main course dish. And all of this info and more can be accessed on your smartphone app.

The truth is, you likely already participate in the IOT. Often.

But now you have to ask yourself just how much you want to participate. Most news stories on the IOT also include the phrase “big brother.”

I say enjoy the IOT…and I say buyer beware.