Where the Wild "Internet of Things" Are

Introduction

When the dust settles on the historical record of the early 21st century, we'll undoubtedly all agree on one thing: the internet changed the world. The internet continues to shape our modern society and I don't think we'll see its ubiquity fading any time soon. It's allowed so many incredible advancements for our species, mainly by accelerating globalization through providing interconnectedness to the entire world. Using the internet, anyone, anywhere can communicate with anyone else at any other point on the globe. This has allowed an exchange of information on a level we'd never seen before. As much as it may seem right now, this isn't a love story about the internet. However, it's the story of one of the things the internet made possible.

I remember growing up in the 90's watching Disney Channel Original Movies. For a while, they released a new one every month. One of my favorites was always "Smart House." The name tells you about all you need to know. The house contained an automated assistant that controlled the operation of house. This would be akin to an Alexa or Siri that acts as the hub of our smart homes today. As far as I recall, it learned the routines of each occupant of the house and did its best to nudge them in the right direction with their habits, much in the way that our smart watches might encourage us to "Move!" or something of the sort. The point of this detour down memory lane is to say: we're basically living in "Smart House" in today's society.

Stop and think for a second about the vast amount of things we've connected to the internet. Just about every modern device that's produced today contains some form of WiFi connectivity, allowing it to connect to the internet and transmit data. Is it really necessary to connect everything we make to the internet? Let's explore IoT in more depth and consider some of the pros and cons of connecting everything to the internet.

What is IoT?

Some Background

The Internet of Things, or IoT for short, is a concept that represents the idea that all our modern devices and appliances are connected to the internet, capable of sending data to and receiving data from other devices also connected to the internet. The basic idea behind IoT is inserting sensors into everything we make and using the internet connectivity to transmit data from these sensors to be used in a way that improves something about the product or the way it's used. One of the simplest examples to illustrate this might be a stop light. New stop lights could be built with sensors that transmit traffic data, so that the light's timing could be altered to better suit the flow of traffic. Now consider all the stop lights in a city being connected to the IoT and communicating traffic data with each other. This could allow the stop lights to coordinate their timing and share their data without anyone or anything needing to intervene.

How did we get to the point where everything is being connected to the internet? Technological advancements have lowered the price of wireless chips to the point where we can afford to insert them into anything large enough to hold them. Whereas in the early days of the internet, wireless connectivity was reserved for computers and routers, now just about everything that plugs into electricity can also connect to the internet. Just as with all things in life, there are inherent pros and cons to the IoT that we'll delve deeper into shortly. First, let's consider a few ideas outside of the pros and cons discussion.

Talking Numbers

The most incredible thing about the IoT is the vast amount of data that it generates on a daily basis. Consider this quote from Bernard Marr, in his article for Forbes:

There are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day at our current pace, but that pace is only accelerating with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Over the last two years alone 90 percent of the data in the world was generated.

2.5 quintillion! And this article is over 2 years old, so I think it's safe to assume it's only gone up further. Let's just be fair and say 3 quintillion bytes of data are created every day. How much is 3 quintillion? It's unfathomably large. Apple, the country's most valuable company, is worth just over $2 trillion. 3 quintillion is 1.5 million times larger than that. These are truly unfathomable numbers for the human mind. Surely, somewhere in all this data lies a wealth of undiscovered insights, some of which could undoubtedly change our world.

There are various estimates for the number of IoT devices in use today, but a general consensus exists around 30 billion in 2020. There's 7.8 billion people living in the world today. Some quick rounding puts the number of IoT devices around 4 times the world population! Quite an astounding number, and one that's set to grow a torrid pace moving into the future.

How Can IoT Help Society?

Using Data for Good

The main premise behind how IoT can help society is rather simple. Considering the vast abyss of data that's generated each day, surely there are hidden insights we've yet to unearth from the vast data mountain. These hidden insights could hold the key to solving some of the problems facing society today. Maybe there are hidden indicators our smart watches are detecting that could be indicating we've been exposed to coronavirus based on biological sensors transmitting data. This could prove vastly beneficial to slowing the spread of COVID-19. Or maybe there's undiscovered insight into how to better allocate scarce food resources in impoverished nations. Or how to lower water usage in places where drought is a constant threat. Climate change is a very real issue facing our future society, and IoT can help in the fight. Cities around the world are already taking advantage of IoT to improve the quality of life for their residents. Maciej Kranz, in her article for World Economic Forum, looks to Spain for inspiration:

In Barcelona, a citywide WiFi and information network linked to sensors, software and a data analytics platform has enabled the city to provide smart water technology, automated street lighting, remote-controlled irrigation for parks and fountains, “on-demand” waste pickups, digital bus routes and smart parking meters. These IoT-enabled urban services have dramatically reduced traffic jams and pollution, as well as water, light and energy usage.

As you can see, there are countless beneficial applications to the IoT. It can benefit people at the micro level in their day-to-day lives, as well as the macro level by making their cities a better place to live. However, we must be pragmatic and consider both sides of the coin. What we may gain in societal advancement, we may lose in privacy and security. Let's explore the downsides to the growing IoT.

Where Are the Risks of Putting Everything On the Internet?

Privacy Concerns

It's easy to foresee a future where everything is tracked and there simply is no notion of privacy. After all, what are the rules governing all these devices and all this data? We're existing at the cutting edge of new technology, but often at the expense of well-thought out frameworks and guidelines to govern it. Smart homes are probably the most ubiquitous form of IoT interaction for the average consumer. The new abilities that having countless devices in your home connected to the internet provides are without a doubt helpful to many homeowners. You can have your garage door open itself when you're arriving home, have your lights set just how you like them, and your favorite album playing softly on the soundbar when you walk inside from a long, stressful day at work. At 9 PM when it's time for bed, your smart thermostat sets itself to 68, your lights switch to sleeping mode and dim themselves, and your alarm system is set. Despite how great all these things happening for you are, there's a downside. Your habits and schedule are constantly being monitored and recorded. Would you really be ok with just anyone having such an intimate accounting of your day-to-day life? I'd venture to say the answer is likely "No".

The question then becomes if privacy exists at all anymore, even in our own homes. Can we really have intimate time with our significant others if we're constantly being listened to by all of our "smart" devices? If, when we're sharing our secrets with our loved ones, Alexa is in the room, are we in private?

Security Concerns

Regardless of whether or not your value your privacy, security is a different beast entirely. One may argue "they have nothing to hide" and thus don't believe in privacy, but those same people likely don't want their bank accounts and online profiles hacked. So that brings us to the security concerns of putting WiFi chips in everything and connecting them to the internet. At what point does a smart toaster become just another attack vector or point of vulnerability in your private network? We have to consider the downsides of connecting devices with lackluster security to our private network. It's akin to taping a safe shut. If we're going to continue to place our entire lives on the internet, we have to take a more serious stance on securing our digital lives. This obviously isn't helped by adding more and more devices to our network. I think a lot of the security concerns regarding IoT devices could be alleviated if we developed some sort of societal standards for this arena.

Andy Greenberg, in his article for Wired, illustrates some of the security concerns around IoT in his first-person account of riding in a Jeep that's been hacked:

All of this is possible only because Chrysler, like practically all carmakers, is doing its best to turn the modern automobile into a smartphone. Uconnect, an Internet-connected computer feature in hundreds of thousands of Fiat Chrysler cars, SUVs, and trucks, controls the vehicle's entertainment and navigation, enables phone calls, and even offers a Wi-Fi hot spot. And thanks to one vulnerable element, which Miller and Valasek won't identify until their Black Hat talk, Uconnect's cellular connection also lets anyone who knows the car's IP address gain access from anywhere in the country.

Although having your car connected to the internet sounds like a beneficial thing, if someone gains control of your vehicle remotely, there's not much you can do. This is a real-world example of a huge security issue with our rapid adoption of the IoT.

IoT in the Future

There's really no telling where the IoT train will end up taking us. We can all agree that just like the internet, IoT has the ability to change our lives dramatically. IoT devices have the ability to capture data that could unveil the next great breakthrough for humankind. IoT devices also have the potential to turn into monitoring devices and attack vectors for people who shouldn't have access to your data or your network. The end result will depend on our actions. Will we finally be prescient and establish standards for a disruptive technology before it engulfs our society? Or will we look back in 20 years at the missed opportunity to corral what could turn into a nightmare technology?

I, for one, hope we can get the best of both worlds. Let's establish standards and address the inherent privacy and security concerns with IoT devices. If we make that a priority, then we also get the opportunity to glean society-altering insights from the mountains of IoT data. I could definitely appreciate my coffeemaker starting when my alarm goes off in the morning, without me doing anything. I wouldn't care to drink my hands-free coffee if it was being hacked in the meantime. Let's do all that we can to have our IoT cake and eat it too.