The Internet of Things will impact the daily lives of most people who live in developed areas by 2025.
Experts predict that the “Internet of Things” will bring improvements in convenience and efficiency by 2025, but at the expense of privacy, social divisions and complex problems.
Continue reading… “Internet of Things will bring promise and problems by 2025”
The FBI plans to start using facial recognition software.
Most technology watchers believe we shouldn’t be overly concerned just yet about the privacy implications of facial recognition technology because it isn’t yet sophisticated enough to identify people accurately,
Continue reading… “Massive FBI facial recognition database raises concerns about privacy”
The amount of data collected is expected to swell as more schools use apps and tablets that can collect information.
With the shift to computerized testing, tablets in the classroom and digitized personal records, schools are collecting more data than ever on how children are doing. Now, some educators believe, it’s time to put that data to use.
Continue reading… “Technological advances and privacy concerns clash in the classroom”
How much personal data are we willing to give up for the convenience of prediction?
The biggest change in years in how we interact with computers is happening now. It will mean less input from you. Apps like Google Now, Tempo AI, and others represent the first wave of “predictive technology.” These are apps and services that are smart enough to fetch information for you — before you realize you even need it.
Continue reading… “Predictive technology gets smarter but more controversial”
Consumers would pay for privacy.
The going rate for many of the most popular apps has been exactly $0.00 ever since the iPhone came out in 2007. Consumers pay nothing. But of course, nothing is free. Instead, consumers pay with their data, that’s sold to marketers, or with screenspace, which is forked over to make room for ads. It’s a trade consumers are happy to make.
Continue reading… “Average consumer would pay $5 for an app that respects their privacy: Study”
2013 changed everything by demonstrating the extent and power of state — and commercial — surveillance.
2013 was an extraordinary year for those of us who are interested in privacy and data protection. What was previously seen as the domain of paranoid nitpickers has exploded into the public consciousness, shaking international ties and making many people re-evaluate how they live their lives online.
Continue reading… “2013 blew apart our notions of privacy”
Face-reading technology raises many questions about privacy and surveillance.
Private emotions are often revealed in tiny, fleeting facial expressions, visible only to a best friend — or to a skilled poker player. Now, computer software is using frame-by-frame video analysis to read subtle muscular changes that flash across our faces in milliseconds, signaling emotions like happiness, sadness and disgust.
Continue reading… “When algorithms grow accustomed to your face”
The big online companies are calling for urgent reforms to protect us from having data intercepted.
Over a few weeks’ worth of bedtimes in the summer of 1984, my dad read me Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Though the dystopian context would have been lost on nine-year old me, the pervasive malevolence and the futility of the struggle was not.
Continue reading… “Our best defenders against Big Brother may be Google and Facebook”
Would the world be a better place if Adolph Hitler never existed?
While many people will argue over who exactly was the worst of the worst, with names like Pol Pot, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Ivan the Terrible, Genghis Khan, Nero, Osama bin Laden, Attila the Hun, and Hirohito entering the conversation, it’s easy to attribute a face to the evil we all despise.
Continue reading… “Optimizing Evil”
Your home will start thinking and be able to detect the presence of people, pets, cars, smoke, humidity, moisture, lighting, temperature, vibration, angle, and movement.
It will be possible to communicate with nearly every device in your home sometime in the near future. The value people will get from communicating with these previously dumb, lifeless things will far outweigh the costs of learning their language. They will be able to capture data, communicate vital information to us that we wouldn’t otherwise know and even act when different events take place.
Continue reading… “The programmable world begins in our homes”
Government agencies are tracking the data that two out of five software engineers are collecting, creating, and analyzing. And if you only ask those who are confident they could tell if the government was indeed spying on their data, that number goes up to 59 percent.
Once the retailer has a phone number, they have an identity.
We all feel violated when companies dig deeper into your pockets than you want. New technology is letting brick-and-mortar stores invade shoppers’ pockets for personal information more than ever before. Retailers have unprecedented access to shoppers’ habits with the stores ability to track customers cell phones. They can track how frequently a customer visits a store to how long he stands at a window display before deciding whether or not to enter the shop.
Continue reading… “Big box stores are watching you”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.