By Ran Berger, Flat Rock CEO
The Internet Of Things…Our Personal Data is the New Currency for us to trade…Really???
“….my meeting in Covent Garden is in 45 minutes and I just left the train station, my iWatch is beeping…there’s a new Starbucks 10% discount voucher for my small takeaway latte which is available in the closest shop for the next 10 minutes…”
This scenario is a very simple one, which is practically available as our mobile and wearable devices already tracking, and collecting sufficient data to send us such bespoke offers.
Similar revolution is likely to happen with our health insurance. Our critical measure such as the heart rate, blood pressure and pulse will determine the risk level and predict the likelihood of us suffering from an extreme medical event. The seeds for this were already planted into iOS8 with the OEM health app that you cannot remove from the desktop.
There are many ways to define what The Internet of Things is and actually a good way to understand the evolution is with reference to one of the previous trends, Web2.0, and see the shift.
Whether Web 2.0 is substantively different from prior web technologies has been challenged by the World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who describes the term as jargon. His original vision of the Web was "a collaborative medium, a place where we [could] all meet and read and write"
And The Internet of Things definition is…
Things, in the IoT, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue. Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize Wi-Fi for remote monitoring.
To sum up some of the key changes:
We should all remember that this intrusive albeit collaborative have some points to consider before it becomes mainstream. Here are some of the main points that require attention:
→ Regulation
→ Security
→ Simplification of Terms of use (most of us accept them without reading)
→ Ability to manage opt in/out
→ Amount of data
It seems like we are already witnessing the wave of this revolution and we should ride it and enjoy (don’t forget to lookout and avoid the sharks).
