Discussion on:

What the Internet of Things means for you

I believe that there are some good advantages to what the story describes, but I also see a huge possibility for misuse. We don't need to be tracked everywhere we go, and for some of the other advantages, such as traffic rerouting, etc, I would rather leave some things up to chance, and not have a network of intelligence monitoring me constantly just to supposedly make my life easier.

As much as I see advantages to these new technology's, I see a real possibilty for misuse. I don't need to be tracked everywhere I go, and as far as traffic monitoring for example, I would rather leave some things up to chance and not relay totally on a network of intelligence to make my like better.

I apologise, I thought for sure the first post I had written didn't go through being that when I went to submit it gave an error. So now you see my two trains of thought.

Would you like removed?

This really is the stuff of science fiction, isn't it? Inanimate objects being able to communicate with their owners and probably their manufacturers too! But who are all these consumers who Niall Murphy insists "want to connect their objects to share information about what they???re doing with those objects, to access more information about the products that they???ve purchased, to access additional services and to share content.????

Yes, it would be useful to be instantly informed if someone was breaking into your house, garage, shed or car - but burglar alarms that dial a set of phone numbers if premises are broken into already exist.

One can understand exactly why Government is investing in IoT research - because secretly embedding chips into inanimate objects that can track your every movement and having the ability to tap into that data would make catching benefit cheats and other criminals child's play, wouldn't it?!!!

And manufacturers/retailers could use information gathered by these chips to prove that an item had only malfunctioned because you had misused it, etc etc., which would save them millions of pounds in guarantee claims made by negligent users.

So whilst I can see the possible benefits of such technology to Governments and businesses, I'm not so sure that those benefits would really help members of the general public all that much?

"So whilst I can see the possible benefits of such technology to Governments and businesses, I'm not so sure that those benefits would really help members of the general public all that much"

According to most religionists, people who don't believe in god and the devil and heaven and hell have no reason to be good. These chips and those who monitor them become god, those who cheat and commit crimes become the devil, and being monitored accelerates one fate and makes it heaven or hell on Earth. Why wait until after death to know where your soul will reside?

If you have a smart phone or a tablet of any kind or a social networking page on Facebook, you're already halfway there, aren't you? I have none of these things, but the USA's Homeland Security spies have decided to monitor my Internet credit card purchases and report them to a US state in which I haven't resided for more than 15 years -- I'm not even a US resident any longer and haven't been for 15 years. That's a bit of hell. But it helps me know who my enemies are.

Suppose I'm a rancher and want to monitor my herd that's feeding in a distant pasture. Perhaps I want to automate gates, refill feed or watering troughs as needed, etc. I want to know if any animals are sick. I want to know if rustlers are sneaking off with them.

Finest kind, as they say in Vermont or some other rustic region. Have at it.

Now, suppose that rancher gets himself elected to office, and now he has a different herd he wants to monitor...for all the same perfectly praiseworthy, "justifiable" reasons.

Hi, I agree with and share the points exposed in the previous posts, nevertheless, I am much more concerned about the security implications behind the fact that all these connected devices will 'know' where we are at all times.
I am one of those very concerned about social networks like foursquare, as I dont like the idea of others knowing when I am arriving where.
The idea of not knowing how and/or who is getting which information, the purpose and final use of that same information just scare the bejesus out of me. Also mentioned before, I think, who is going to "certify" that the software on those tiny ships is doing what, when and the way they are supposed to be doing it, also rises some alarms in my head ...
I'd like to see another article covering these topics, would be nice to clarify them ...
In any case, thank you very much for the information.