MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-06-03 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Patents and future Data Privacy ... and it is
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Data privacy is a growing concern around the world. In the wake of
scandals involving smart devices such as Amazon’s Ring cameras exposing
our bedrooms to peeping Toms, people have begun to realize how
vulnerable we are -- even in our own homes. Our data is monitored,
manipulated, harvested and stolen. Alarmingly, patterns around patents
filed by tech titans reveal the threat is only about to become more acute.
Patents offer a strong insight into a company’s plans. While not all
patents ultimately yield products that are offered in the market, they
reflect a company’s thinking at least in terms of concepts and
technologies that may be useful, valuable, or profitable in the future.
So we should view the patent filings of the likes of Google and Amazon
with concern.
Google has a patent for a “smart home system that auto-implements select
household policies based on sensed observations.” In other words, Google
wants to not only monitor your home, but to enforce actions based on the
data it gathers. That is convenient if the alarm clock sounds at 7:00 AM
every morning and triggers the curtains opening. But it starts to raise
the specter of Big Brother-like surveillance if Google is constantly
watching and listening and sensing us in our homes. Carrying out this
patent would require Google to observe our personal home activities
around the clock. And that’s exactly what they want.
This is already the case with Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa, which
listens to us 24/7 for her cue: “Hey Alexa”. Amazon has patented a new
version of Alexa, which is now built-in to their vast line of at-home
smart speakers and on-the-go wearables. The patent suggested that Alexa
can automatically detect your emotions based on your speech patterns and
suggest things to do, watch, or purchase.
The patent also shares an example of a woman that is sniffling while
speaking; after recognizing the user is ill, Alexa can suggest some
chicken soup to soothe her cold, and then offer to order cough drops on
Amazon. This is based not on what the user said, but how the user said
it. Alexa really knows you.
Last year, Amazon also gained a patent for an “unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) that performs surveillance at a property defined by a geo-fence.”
Translation? Surveillance-as-a-service. Don’t be deceived, when Amazon
wants to fly your latest purchase to your doorstep to make delivery
times quicker, it will likely be gathering data on you and your
neighbors as it records routine activities. Who is having a barbecue,
mowing the grass, walking the dog -- anything to hoover up data?
As new controversial technologies, such as facial recognition and
artificial intelligence, are fused with smart devices, it is important
to circle back on the broader implications to our personal privacy. If
we don’t, we may default into a global surveillance state.
Raising the alarm
There are signs people are starting to worry about the tech giants’
intentions. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center study: "Some 81% of
the public say that the potential risks they face because of data
collection by companies outweigh the benefits."
Amnesty International has also sounded the alarm over the companies’
brand of “surveillance capitalism” -- -- the offering of free services
to collect detailed user behavior data, often without explicit user
consent. The human rights group issued a report calling for a radical
transformation of the tech giants’ core business model. “Facebook and
Google’s omnipresent surveillance of billions of people poses a systemic
threat to human rights,” Amnesty said.
Your home Is spying on you
Today, the average American owns eight smart devices that can connect to
the Internet, gather data, and communicate with its owner. Smart
devices, such as cameras, thermostats, lights, and locks, are being
installed into the most intimate spaces of our homes at a blistering
rate. On average, a new smart light bulb will be installed every second
in 2020.
Amazon Alexa
The updated Amazon Alexa Plus,is on display in Amazon's Day 1 building
in Seattle on Sept. 20, 2018. Photo: Getty Images/Grant Hindsley
But the surveillance problem is magnified when it comes to smart devices
that can see, hear, and sense us in our most private settings. The
monitoring we experience when we browse, shop, and socialize online is
now entering into our homes, where the stakes are much higher. In the
eyes of big tech, after you pay for a smart device, you become the
product because they seek to benefit from the data you generate.
The creep of surveillance into our homes and neighborhoods is
threatening our fundamental right to freedom and privacy for
individuals, as well as society as a whole. However, it’s not too late
to take back control of our data, identity, and privacy. Even if tech
giants do not want to develop privacy protections, it is technology
itself that can transform the surveillance capitalism business model.
It is perfectly feasible to buy products that protect privacy while
retaining the convenience and efficiency we have all come to expect from
our many smart devices. Consumers need a choice, and blockchain
technology can deliver it. If you want to have security at your front
door with a camera, why should the data uploaded to the device then
become the property of Amazon? Instead, consumers can buy alternative
products that purposefully distribute any data collected in a
decentralized way using blockchain.
In this way, no third party -- Amazon or otherwise -- can control that
information. Consumers are able to own their data and control who they
choose to share the data with -- or not. If I want to assist police
investigating a crime, I can opt to share my home-security camera data.
If I choose to share my exercise and health information from an activity
tracker, such as Fitbit, I can. The point is -- as a consumer that
should be my choice, right.
As it is, the corporations selling the devices own and control your
data. And sadly, the tech giants’ patent filings give no indication they
care to research and develop devices that will put data in consumers’ hands.
Consumers are increasingly aware of their vulnerability and must use
their purchasing power to demand alternatives. We need the IoT industry
to become the Internet of Trusted Things. This means we must have
trusted data, trusted devices and trusted processes to ensure consumers
-- not the giant corporations -- have a choice over how to control their
data privacy.
(Raullen Chai is CEO of IoTeX, a Silicon Valley technology company that
develops privacy-protecting smart devices by combining blockchain with
secure hardware.)
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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