The Internet of Things

JUST DAYS after Apple launched its new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C — selling more than nine million units of the smartphones last weekend — a German biometrics hacking group claimed to have cracked the fingerprint scanner that features in the first model. The Chaos Computer Club, which has been exposing several other fingerprint sensors, claims they are easy to hack, and are unreliable.

 A few weeks earlier, TRENDnet, a marketer of video cameras that allows consumers to monitor their homes remotely came to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that its lax security practices exposed the privacy of hundreds of consumers to public viewing on the Internet. Hackers exploited a flaw in the system and posted links to live feeds of nearly 700 cameras. The action was the first by the agency against a marketer of an everyday product, linked to the internet and known popularly as the Internet of Things (IoT).

 Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the FTC, noted that while IoT holds great promise for innovative consumer products and services, consumer privacy and security must remain a priority as companies develop more devices to connect to the internet. Regulators around the globe will soon have to grapple with serious issues relating to privacy as billions of new devices get connected to the internet,

Internet of Things, along with mobile Internet, are the two most potent ‘disruptive’ technologies that will have profound impact on the global economy, the technology space and even issues related to privacy over the coming decades. It has been predicted that by 2020, 50 billion ‘things’ — including personal gadgets, devices, vehicles, machinery and equipment — will go online as the Internet of Things spreads like a wild forest fire across the world. Not only will ‘things’ be connected to the net, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications will also emerge as a major business. And the dramatic fall in the cost of some of the building blocks of IoT, including radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, is encouraging manufacturers of a variety of products to embrace the new technology.

 Consumers will soon be ‘wearing’ smart devices including head gear, eyewear and smart watches that will ensure they are connected to other ‘things’ and the virtual world all the time. Samsung has just launched its Galaxy Gear, a wristwatch that “enhances the freedom of mobile communications.” Apple will also soon launch its iWatch. And Google’s much-awaited Glass will enable the consumer donning the eyewear and muttering the magical words ‘ok glass,’ to trigger off a series of actions including taking pictures or recording a video, getting directions, sending a message, making a call or even for Google search, all hands-free.

These paradigm shifts and technology disruptions are occurring at a breakneck pace. For instance, while it took 30 years (from 1978 to 2008) for personal computer sales to touch the one billion-mark, smartphones — introduced just a few years ago — reached that magical figure in October 2012. Another billion smartphones will be sold in just three years.