The scary things about the internet of things

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Don't trust your door...
http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2015/02/we-give-doors-and-toasters-sentience-we-should-decide-what-were-comfortable-first

This was an interesting read, Tollorin. I once did a roleplay where one of the plot-points involved voice-controlled ceiling fans being used as covert listening devices, not unlike the Samsung Smart TVs mentioned in the article. Features like voice recognition for things like TVs and ceiling fans would be awesome, but would be much more trustworthy if the hardware and software to facilitate it was all housed within the devices and did not need to connect to a remote server.

As much of a tech nut as I am, I agree that not EVERYTHING has to be smart, and even fewer things need to be connected to the internet. Those devices that can be made most useful with internet connectivity, such as computers, smartphones, and even game consoles, should have privacy-protecting features. Also, you should NEVER be forced to give out a whole bunch of sensitive information to use a device or service. I remember being resentful of YouTube asking me to verify my account with my cell phone number in order for me to post videos longer than 15 minutes. Eventually, I did cave and give my number, but I still think that there can be less intrusive ways of "verifying" an account, and if you're not doing anything suspicious, there should be no reason to have to do so. I use my YT channel for Let's Plays, Super Mario World modding project show-offs, and the occasional voice-acting demo. I'm not some terrorist using my channel to incite an attack.

The first thing I thought of before even clicking the link was Philip K. Dick's Ubik, the novel from which I took my screen name. Sure enough, the author of the article made the connection, too:



I don't know whether to be happy or sad that Phil didn't live to see it coming true.

A lot of the time I wish I was born in the 1950s, after the world wars, but before all this crazy 1984 stuff. Also, in the '50s, you wouldn't have to check your Facebook or carry around your smartphone or constantly have your attention being pulled in 37 different directions.
From what I've gathered from movies and that sort of thing, social protocol was also pretty different in the 1950s. If you were a kid and you were bored, it was perfectly reasonable to go play outside, with the neighbor's kids or just by yourself. Everyone on the street knew each other.
But because there is always something to read or watch or catch up on, it's hard to find an excuse to go outside (especially when it's cold out). Even if you do get yourself out of the house, you'll most likely be alone, because no one else wants to go outside. It's like every possible incentive is turned against you. On weekends, I rarely set foot outside the house, and maybe that's just because I'm a hermit, but sometimes I wonder...

I was born in 1957 and that is exactly how it was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's. Helicopter parents did not scheduled your every minute. Cameras were not recording everything and texting did not exist meaning when you were a teen your parents did not have the ability to track you once you left your residence and did not know what you were doing a lot the time.

I don't want to give the impression it was a paradise especially for undiagnosed. You were looked at as odd and a wimp and bullying was "boys being boys" and thought of as a regular part of growing up. You were forced to figure it out on your own and if you could not it was your fault not society's. That forced me to figure out plenty of things I would have done for me if I was growing up today but the basic stuff I could not led to plenty of pain.

Back to the topic at hand privacy was sacred but we gave it up for convenience. The world moves forward we are not going to go back. Those of us that might attempt to do so are dinosaurs that at best may slow the forward movement down but in the end will be overrun and overwhelmed.

Wow, that sounds nice.



That makes sense, but I would argue that Facebook/snapchat/etc bring their own challenges, even if you are diagnosed. Social media is a sort of "social luxury"; it's not a "necessary" social skill and probably isn't taught to people who don't know it. Also, it's a huge source of hurt feelings, even if no hurt is actually intended. I'm not talking about cyberbullying. People post filtered-out, optimised versions of their lives in which they're always hanging out with other people and smiling. This makes me and many others feel lonely and left out. And yes, theoretically you can opt out of social media (I've thought about that), but, though that might make you feel a little less excluded in the short term, you'll still miss a lot and feel a different sort of exclusion.
That said, I can totally see 50 years ago being way worse for aspies just because of the bullying and lack of awareness.


Yup.

It was nice in that there was time to decompress. Corporal punishment and worse for what we now call Autistic traits or "bad" behavior were the norm at home and at school. And a lot of dad's because Autistic boys were not typical were physically and verbally abused so home was no respite for them. If people overhead screaming and yelling or worse at the neighbors they did not call authorities because it was considered their private business and privacy was sacred. If you tried to interfere in someone’s private business you were considered a tattle tale or rat and would be ostracized.

Today disadvantages for Autistics is that there is so much more multitasking and sensory overload because you are always “on call”. Advantage today is places like WP because back then you just did not know many or any others were like you.

I saw a show where a guy hacked another guy's phone to control his thermostat and killed him.

Yeah, but wih ASD, that's just as well. In my experience, other kids were as likely as not to pick on me, so even outside I played mostly alone. I loved climbing trees. In the spring and summer, it was like a clubhouse all to itself, hiding inside the leaves, and when you got up into the top, there was always a breeze, even on days when it was hot and sweltering on the ground.

I also lived on a bicycle. Skateboards were pretty primitive in the 60s, but we did all sorts of foolhardy stunts with bicycles and ramps and such. When I was very young, I remember spending most of a summer inside the shell of an old dryer in the garage, pretending it was a space capsule.

Why on earth would a third party be given access to what I've said in front of my television?

Granted I can see some advantages in having certain devices interlinked, but apart from my computers being on a wireless network I can't see any convincing argument for the rest of the stuff in my house to be linked up and sending data to the outside world.

Note to self, be careful what I say in front of other people's TVs and sundry other appliances.

I read in japan that they have internet-connected toilets.

I, for one, am scared s**tless of the "Internet of Things." So many IoT devices have unpatched security vulnerabilities and backdoors, and I would NOT trust an IoT door or refrigerator or anything of the sort unless there was a way to run it offline. I don't want someone to shut off my fridge while I'm away and spoil all of the food in it, or set my TV to only show the midget porn channel, or whatever.

this all is opening the door to an ever more dystopian future, IMHO. something like "minority report" is gonna happen.

Yes it's scary. Remote devices that are not password protected can be simply connected to via remote desktop protocol and many people have their phones controlling their garage doors, thermostats etc.

I wouldn't necessarily want my crapper tellin' on me.

Do they post directly to Facebook so you friends know if you've just done a number 1 or a number 2?