The Biggest Trends in Tech4Good in 2020

2020 is not just a new year, but a new decade. Many of the things that were developed in the last decade were the fodder for science fiction just one or two decades ago. None of us can predict what the world will look like at the dawn of 2030, but we can certainly see some of the issues and trends that are going to be dominating the next year as we continue the digital revolution.

IoT, 5G and Infrastructure Security

5G and the IoT are two trends that have significantly shaped the latter portion of the last decade, and they’re continuing to grow. As our adoption and even dependence on these devices grow, security threats inherently come with heavier potential consequences.

The IoT Security Foundation writes “The economic impact of the Internet of Things will be measured in $trillions. The number of connected devices will be measured in billions.” These devices span sectors including smart homes, vehicles, healthcare, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure (such as water supply, oil wells, energy grids). You can easily imagine the consequences of security breaches for any of these. It’s the tip of the iceberg.

Meanwhile, 5G requires a fundamental shift in how we think of our network security. David Simpson and Tom Wheeler write for Brookings Institute that the conversion to 5G, or, in effect, the conversion to an effectively all-software network, in and of itself is not the greatest challenge at hand. “Because of the cyber vulnerabilities of software, the tougher part of the real 5G “race” is to retool how we secure the most important network of the 21st century… To build 5G on top of a weak cybersecurity foundation is to build on sand.”

Self-Sovereign Identity as actionable for Privacy

Privacy has certainly been one of the most important questions surrounding technology like social media, smart phones, and, of course, the IoT. However, despite its fundamental relevance to each of us as individuals, we have very little control over the use of our own data. For instance, for the millions of device users in America, “There is no good-faith “opt out” when it comes to smartphone tracking.”

By ensuring that we assign full, and fully protected control of one’s identity via secure technologies like blockchain, we can allow individuals to share only the data they choose to with only the parties they choose to. In essence, not only will there be a good faith opt-out, but a necessary opt-in

Risk of "humanitarian surveillance"

Another undeniable benefit of modern technology is the ability to use it to apprehend criminals—more security cameras and smartphone photos and videos, more analytical possibilities and more. But we’ve built legal systems that require warrants and careful regulation around evidence to protect from overwhelming privacy breaches.

We’re only just starting to learn how to navigate this new world. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that location data from mobile phones is constitutionally protected. However, that does not protect consumers from private industry usage, and moreover, is only one small fraction of privacy concerns.

A company called Clearview AI, around which we have very little information, built a technology that can take a photo and compare it to more than 3 billion public photos from Facebook, YouTube, and other sites. In addition to private sector use, more than 600 law enforcement agencies, “ranging from local cops in Florida to the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security,” have used the technologies. It has been used to “solve shoplifting, identity theft, credit card fraud, murder and child sexual exploitation cases.” While obviously that’s a positive outcome, the risks and weaponization potential is undeniable.

Moving From Blockchain to Tokenization

The concept of blockchain is a buzzword that for many is some high-tech cryptocurrency tool they don’t understand. However, it represents enormous potential through tokenization. eToroX describes the value of this: “The world is full of assets most of which are difficult to subdivide and transfer. Instead, buyers and sellers trade papers representing those assets. However, papers involve a lot of legal agreements which are cumbersome, difficult to transfer and can be daunting to track.” Think about the applications of this: we can create blockchain “lockboxes” where people can securely document their identity, demonstrating it where necessary, sharing it only when they choose.

In this way, personal data can also be commodified by the individual, not the companies using it by tokenizing data and allowing people to control how they share it.

A Call to Action and A New Social Contract

We need to come to an agreement—between organizations and their customers or users, between governments and their citizens, between different nations as a global community, and amongst one another—to prioritize security, to protect the right to privacy, both from the government and industry, to educate about risks and work to mitigate them, and to use tech for good to the best of our ability.