When we talk about the “Internet of things” we refer to identifiable objects being able to communicate over the Internet or a similar network. The term “Internet of things” was first coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999.
The internet of things takes an ever-increasing importance in our lives. Everyday we are faced with connected objects, for exemple, with connected TV, mobile payment, QR codes. These kind of applications will grow. All kind of objects could be connected: Nike created the connected shoes, when you run with these shoes they inform you about your speed, your route, so you can compare various courses.
Another exemple is the exemple of Babolat, which produces a connected tennis racket. When you play tennis with this racket named “Play&Connect”, you know about power of impact, effects, centering of ball.
If these different applications of the internet of things turn out to be really handy, it raises many concerns especially about privacy. Indeed, the RFID tags could be used to localize people, when geolocation is a personal data and has to be protected.
Law has to take into account the evolution of the internet of things and supervise the collection of personal data. Otherwise we are facing the risk to live in the society of Big Brother. Expansion of this kind of technology should not violate individual freedom.
Last big problem that raises concern is a security problem, as every object could be hacked, and if it’s dangerous for personal data, it’s most dangerous in the case of medical use of the internet of things. Recently, a man hacked a pacemaker only to proof that it’s possible but if a malicious hacker had found the vulnerabillity, that could have become really frightening.
Also published on : Margaux Groine’s Blog
