IoT: Three letters that spell doom for humans
Re: “IoT weaponised for sonic attacks on US diplomats”, Have Your Say, October 31.
Did anyone else experience a Hallowe’en chill of dread on reading Al of Asia’s fascinating letter? Do any of us normal folk look forward to this “Internet of Things” nightmare? Technology has already gone too far. Life used to be so easy – one would press an on/off switch to connect power to an appliance, vehicle, or whatever. But now we have lost control of our “Things” to curmudgeonly, interfering pieces of software that decide whether they can be bothered to accede to our simple on/off requests. So your computer printer is sitting there, primed with A4, ink, all paper transports clear, and it refuses to print because of some non-existent error. You try to switch the wretched thing off, and it comes up with a message “Busy, Try Later”. HOW DARE IT tell you, its owner, that it’s too busy (with what?) to do what you command? You rip out the power cable, wait, and put it back. You’ve beaten it! But then, some hours later, it decides to power up again, BY ITSELF, to engage in some fussy cleaning process that involves squirting your expensive ink needlessly away.
To calm your nerves, you try to watch TV, but the fascist on/off control militia decide that they first need to download a “firmware update” which fails because the Internet link goes down halfway through. You are faced with a blinking red light – you find you are supposed to count the number of repeating blinks to work out what the TV thinks is wrong with it.
In desperation, you decide to go for a drive. On opening your car door, a gong goes off and a computer screen (great idea in a car, by the way) says “Door Is Open”. You scream at it: “I know the [expletive] door is open, I’ve just [expletive] opened it!” And your car is fuelled, all electrical and mechanical components fit for purpose, but oh dear, a computer engine-mapping chip has failed, so your car is useless.
Now just contemplate a further layer of control – the IoT – between you and the above “Things”. Al of Asia claims that the IoT has “unlimited peaceful possibilities”. It also has unlimited possibilities for mischief, misery and doom. Two years ago, CIA researchers succeeded in hacking into a 2014 Jeep Cherokee and managed to turn the wheel, disable the brakes and shut down the engine. Undetectable assassinations, anyone?
Be warned, the Terminator’s “Skynet” is already with us.
Nigel Pike
Phang Nga
