Posted on 03/05/2015 9:06:15 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Can you imagine a world where your home, your vehicles, your appliances and every single electronic device that you own is constantly connected to the Internet? This is not some grand vision that is being planned for some day in the future. This is something that is being systematically implemented right now. In 2015, we already have “smart homes”, vehicles that talk to one another, refrigerators that are connected to the Internet, and televisions that spy on us. Our world is becoming increasingly interconnected, and that opens up some wonderful possibilities. But there is also a downside. What if we rapidly reach a point where one must be connected to the Internet in order to function in society? Will there come a day when we can’t even do basic things such as buy, sell, get a job or open a bank account without it? And what about the potential for government abuse? Could an “Internet of Things” create a dystopian nightmare where everyone and everything will be constantly monitored and tracked by the government? That is something to think about.
Today, the Internet has become such an integral part of our lives that it is hard to remember how we ever survived without it. And with each passing year, the number of devices connected to the Internet continues to grow at an exponential rate. If you have never heard of the “Internet of Things” before, here is a little bit about it from Wikipedia…
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, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue. These devices collect useful data with the help of various existing technologies and then autonomously flow the data between other devices. Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize wifi for remote monitoring.
But there is also a dark side to the Internet of Things. Security is a huge issue, and when that security is compromised the consequences can be absolutely horrifying. Just consider the following example…
It is a strange series of events that link two Armenian software engineers; a Shenzen, China-based webcam company; two sets of new parents in the U.S.; and an unknown creep who likes to hack baby monitors to yell obscenities at children. “Wake up, you little ****,” the hacker screamed at the top of his digital lungs last summer when a two-year-old in Houston wouldn’t stir; she happened to be deaf. A year later, a baby monitor hacker struck again yelling obscenities at a 10-month-old in Ohio.
Both families were using an Internet-connected baby monitor made by China-based Foscam. The hacker took advantage of a weakness in the camera’s software design that U.S.-based Armenian computer engineers revealed at a security conference in Amsterdam last April.
The Internet allows us to reach into the outside world from inside our homes, but it also allows the reverse to take place as well.
Do we really want to make ourselves that vulnerable?
Sadly, we live at a time when people don’t really stop to consider the downside to our exploding technological capabilities.
In fact, there are many people that are extremely eager to connect themselves to the Internet of Things.
In Sweden, there are dozens of people that have willingly had microchips implanted under the skin. They call themselves “bio-hackers”, and they embrace what they see as the coming merger between humanity and technology. The following is what one of the founders of a Sweden based bio-hacking community had to say during one recent interview…
“The technology is already happening,” says Hannes Sjoblad, one of the founders of BioNyfiken. “We are seeing a fast-growing community of people experimenting with chip implants, which allow users to quickly and easily perform a variety of everyday tasks, such as allowing access to buildings, unlocking personal devices without PIN codes and enabling read access to various types of stored data.
“I consider the take-off of this technology as another important interface-moment in the history of human-computer interaction, similar to the launches of the first windows desktop or the first touch screen. Identification by touch is innate for humans. PIN codes and passwords are not natural. And every additional device that we have to carry around to identify ourselves, be it a key fob or a swipe card, is just another item that clutters our lives.”
And of course this is happening in the United States as well…
In America, a dedicated amateur community — the “biohackers” or “grinders” — has been experimenting with implantable technology for several years. Amal Graafstra, a 38-year-old programmer and self-styled “adventure technologist”, has been inserting various types of radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips into the soft flesh between his thumbs and index fingers since 2005. The chips can be read by scanners that Graafstra has installed on the doors of his house, and also on his laptop, which gives him access with a swipe of his hand without the need for keys or passwords.
But you don’t have to have a microchip implant in order to be a part of the Internet of Things.
In fact, there are a whole host of “wearable technologies” that are currently being developed for our society.
For instance, have you heard about “OnStar for the Body” yet? It will enable medical personnel to constantly monitor your health wherever you are…
Smart, cheaper and point-of-care sensors, such as those being developed for the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, will further enable the ‘Digital Checkup’ from anywhere. The world of ‘Quantified Self’ and ‘Quantified Health’ will lead to a new generation of wearable technologies partnered with Artificial Intelligence that will help decipher and make this information actionable.
And this ‘actionability’ is key. We hear the term Big Data used in various contexts; when applied to health information it will likely be the smart integration of massive data sets from the ‘Internet of things’ with the small data about your activity, mood, and other information. When properly filtered, this data set can give insights on a macro level – population health – and micro – ‘OnStar for the Body‘ with a personalized ‘check engine light’ to help identify individual problems before they further develop into expensive, difficult-to-treat or fatal conditions.
If that sounded creepy to you, this next item will probably blow you away.
According to one survey, approximately one-fourth of all professionals in the 18 to 50-year-old age bracket would like to directly connect their brains to the Internet…
According to a survey by tech giant Cisco Systems, about a fourth of professionals ages 18 to 50 would leap at the chance to get a surgical brain implant that allowed them to instantly link their thoughts to the Internet.
The study was conducted on 3,700 adults working in white-collar jobs in 15 countries.
“Assuming a company invented a brain implant that made the World Wide Web instantly accessible to their thoughts, roughly one-quarter would move forward with the operation,” the study found.
In the end, they are not going to have to force most of us to get connected to the Internet of Things.
Most of us will do it eagerly.
But most people will never even stop to consider the potential for abuse.
An Internet of Things could potentially give governments all over the world the ability to continually monitor and track the activities of everyone under their power all of the time.
If you do not think that this could ever happen, perhaps you should consider the words of former CIA director David Petraeus…
“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation Internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing”
Are you starting to get the picture?
They plan to use the Internet of Things to spy on all of us.
But we just can’t help ourselves. Our society has a love affair with new technology. And some of the things that are being developed right now are beyond what most of us ever dreamed was possible.
For example, Microsoft has just released a new promotional video featuring 3D holograms, smart surfaces, next-generation wearable technologies, and “fluid mobility”…
The elaborate, highly produced video shows jaw-dropping technologies like a SCUBA mask that annotates the sea with 3D holograms, a multipart bracelet that joins together to become a communications device, and interactive, flexible displays that automatically “rehydrate” with information specific to the people using them.
This video from Microsoft was posted on YouTube, and I have shared it below…
So what do you think about all of this?
And yet we still aren’t allowed to see Obola’s real birth certificate.
Democrats in Congress will pass legislation that mandates your energy consumption be monitored for each appliance. If you walk away from your TV and don’t turn it off, you will be “taxed.”
Leftists won’t be satisfied until they can remotely adjust our heaters and air conditioners, remotely decrease the water volume flush in our toilets, and monitor our telephone conversations, emails, and texts for “hate speech.”
Smart TV will watch your facial expressions and reactions during political addresses —at first, supposedly just to judge the effectiveness of the speech.
But your reactions will be recorded, comrade...
Another tax will be for not watching party approved channels at mandated times for indoctrination.
load up on old appliances, and get handy at fixing them.
I’m going to seriously pass at using anything new for as long as possible, even if I’m reduced one day to a VCR and a CRT display.
“And yet we still aren’t allowed to see Obola’s real birth certificate.”
Yeah we did, it’s the one filled out in orange crayon, remember?
It will be just like living in a world-wide version of “The Village” from “The Prisoner”.
and scales built into floor tiles to accurately measure and report your weight.
If the ‘Internet of Things’ were so great, why isn’t the First Thing that everything connects to a computer for HUMANS to control it all?
I am so delighted with the thermostat in my apartment. It doesn’t have batteries, buttons or a display. If I want heat or cooling, I simply slide 1 or at the most 2 switches, the only mechanism is a mercury switch, it does exactly what I want, I am THE MASTER.
At my old place, I was ready to go get one of these. I thought I could find one at a used equipment place. If I hadn’t moved here, I was ready to revolt. My only resort in my former helpless condition with a programmable thermostat was to let the batteries run out and use a portable heater in the bedroom.
I think the management at my new place resorted to this subversive strategy of great, obsolete stuff, because it was easier than having to deal with tenants who can’t program the d!&%*mned things.
Not my original idea, but a guy told me that every single, last, blasted device—even new toasters that won’t let you push the lever up when the toast is done sooner than the dial setting, but you have to push a RE-SET BUTTON to get the stuff out before it burns—everything that beeps, buzzes or blinks at you SHOULD HAVE A PORT THAT WILL CONNECT TO A COMPUTER s.o. y.o.u. d.o.n.t. h.a.v.e. t.o. p.r.o.g.r.a.m. c.r.y.p.t.i.c. d.e.v.i.c.e.s.
This is bliss in the age of «the internet of things». If this grand technological scheme which is haywired from the outset had any merit, T.H.E.Y. W.O.U.L.D. H.A.V.E. I.T. A.L.L. C.O.M.P.U.T.E.R C.O.N.N.E.C.T.E.D.
This is living proof that technology is intrinsically fascist. The people who dream this stuff up are techno-Nazis. Edward Snowden may fantasize about being 007, but he’s really just monogonad Adolph Hitler in a super-hero costume. The people who live techno-junk day in & out are really in the service of MiniLuv, “the place where the lights never go out”.
Making every little Hitler-gadget accountable to a computer interface is something the designers never dreamed of, because they’re all really about controlling us, even as they beguile us with the latest whiz-bang neato things they’re going to do for us.
Tomorrow’s Junk Today.
Methinks the recent FCC declaration that the internet is a "public" utility, and the spawn of pending regulations is a tip-off that the government is making every effort and plan to abuse it. . . sheeple to the slaughter.
Mr. Megan bought a new pickup truck and then went through it from bumper to bumper removing the data recorders and transponders. Then he did the same thing for some of his friends.
Which has me suggesting to him that he could have a nice little side business removing electronic crap from people’s cars.
Find the best tech security company and buy stock.
These are issues of holes in the tech.
OK as long as there is an Airplane mode switch,
Dell laptops have a hard switch that disables the wireless.
My phone accesses my FIOS DVR converter boxes at him and my home thermostat has an internet feature that I haven’t setup yet,
This is horrifying to say the least and it scares the socks off of me. Still, I see it much like a “tower of Babel” in The Bible where it will come down if you hit it in a few key places, the power grid comes to mind but I’m sure there are other points too. There is a side of me where if the Web ever went down, I do think it would be a good thing if it would stop these things in its tracks.
“The telescreen recieved and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever the wanted to. You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
-1984, Book 1, Chapter One, George Orwell
But with no place to escape to since it will be everywhere. At least The Prisoner made it back to a calm looking 60s London with number 2 and the butler.
There is an old Star Trek episode with this as its central theme. When things start to go wrong, they go very wrong and people disappear with everyones' connected minds rewritten so that there was no memory that they had ever existed.
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