The Creepiness of IoT and How To Enjoy Privacy

Imagine having a relationship with your house and car. The sort of relationship where your home appliances automatically adjust to fit your tastes. Your refrigerator sends you the grocery list and your daughter’s car automatically sends you notifications of her location. Everything with a switch in your house would be connected to you and with a click of a button or a voice instruction, you can automate your home, check on your kids, connect with friends. You can still hold your house lock the doorway and shut the curtains when that nosy neighbor tries to see into the house.

Creepy as hell, right?

This is the future of technology, in fact by 2020 there would be 50 billion connected devices. Theo Priestly made that prediction in 2016.

You probably own an internet enabled device, if not you wouldn’t be reading this. Strategy Analytics projects that this year, 44% of the globe will be using smart phones. Today we have people living in smart homes, smart cities and working at smart workplaces.

IoT is becoming increasingly relevant in day-to-day life. In a short while, Real life and virtual reality will be overlapping constantly. You will perpetually require connection to the internet to enjoy the best of any and every device. ‘The new rule for the future is going to be, "Anything that can be connected will be connected."- Jacob Morgan (Author, The Future of Work)

You may already feel like you have no privacy and that the internet is spying on you. Even worse, you feel like a commodity with marketers watching your digital footprint like hawks watching a helpless chicken.

It can only get worse, in the age of IoT, there would be so much more data available. Data collection will no longer be restricted to your purchases or browser history. The sensors in your refrigerator, television and other household appliances will also be gathering data about you.

Hold on To Your Right To Privacy

This is the best time to begin preparing to protect your data and maintain your privacy. Several Internet connected devices are vulnerable to hackers and as manufacturers block loopholes, hackers use more advanced methods.

By 2020, we could be living in homes that collect data about all our habits including what we eat, what we buy and our schedule. We could also live in cities where all our activities are documented.

In fact, if the proper steps are not taken in term of security, cyber-attacks are likely to become increasingly physical threats. 

In that respect are several views on what the connected world will seem comparable. Still, one thing is sure; your right to privacy would be infringed on regularly. Several experts have suggested ways to keep your data safe and keep your privacy. Here are three ways to keep your data secure:

• Change the default username and password of any device; attackers will attempt to use them first to compromise your device. - Information Age
• Update your devices with all the latest security and firmware updates. Security updates will make it harder for attackers to compromise your home network. Information Security Buzz
• Turn off these devices when you are not using them - it saves energy and minimizes your exposure to hackers. Pwnie Express

The Internet of Things is still evolving and already several standards for the IoT industry have been established especially relating to automobiles and hopefully more would be setup for other sectors that will pertain to privacy and security concerns.