Mar 16, 2022 05:38 PM
https://www.studyfinds.org/smart-devices...g-privacy/
INTRO: Do you ever get the creepy feeling you’re being watched? According to two computer scientists, you’re probably right, only it’s not someone watching you, it’s something — and that thing is smart technology.
In a paper by University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Roberto Yus and Penn State’s Primal Pappachan, the team warns that billions of digital devices are scanning and sensing your movements every day. Some of them are sitting right in front of you — inside televisions, cars, offices, and even your refrigerator.
In 2007, few people could have imagined the countless apps which society now uses on their smartphones each day. However, Yus and Pappachan say this technological revolution has come with a high price to our privacy as internet connectivity now reaches people in more places than ever before.
For all these smart devices to do their job, they need a connection to the internet so they can correlate all the data they’re gathering on you. For example, a smart thermostat in your house spends its day collecting information on you and your preferences. However, without an internet connection to see a weather forecast, the thermostat can’t decide how to properly set the temperature in your home.
This is just the tip of the iceberg though, as the researchers say devices which gather data on everything people do are infiltrating our workspaces, malls, and cities.
“In fact, the Internet of Things (IoT) is already widely used in transport and logistics, agriculture and farming, and industry automation. There were around 22 billion internet-connected devices in use around the world in 2018, and the number is projected to grow to over 50 billion by 2030,” the team explains in an article published in The Conversation... (MORE - details)
INTRO: Do you ever get the creepy feeling you’re being watched? According to two computer scientists, you’re probably right, only it’s not someone watching you, it’s something — and that thing is smart technology.
In a paper by University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Roberto Yus and Penn State’s Primal Pappachan, the team warns that billions of digital devices are scanning and sensing your movements every day. Some of them are sitting right in front of you — inside televisions, cars, offices, and even your refrigerator.
In 2007, few people could have imagined the countless apps which society now uses on their smartphones each day. However, Yus and Pappachan say this technological revolution has come with a high price to our privacy as internet connectivity now reaches people in more places than ever before.
For all these smart devices to do their job, they need a connection to the internet so they can correlate all the data they’re gathering on you. For example, a smart thermostat in your house spends its day collecting information on you and your preferences. However, without an internet connection to see a weather forecast, the thermostat can’t decide how to properly set the temperature in your home.
This is just the tip of the iceberg though, as the researchers say devices which gather data on everything people do are infiltrating our workspaces, malls, and cities.
“In fact, the Internet of Things (IoT) is already widely used in transport and logistics, agriculture and farming, and industry automation. There were around 22 billion internet-connected devices in use around the world in 2018, and the number is projected to grow to over 50 billion by 2030,” the team explains in an article published in The Conversation... (MORE - details)
