Privacy Issue - the Internet of Things

Michael Knudsen

2/04/2018

Professor Erickson

Case Analysis

Case 1

        The first case was about the internet of things and the related controversies that surround it. This was a very interesting and relevant read that I was not as aware of as I should have been. I thought it was a smart point when the authors discussed how we need to be laying the groundwork now before things get too out of hand to be able to regulate. On the other side we need to not regulate it too heavy because of the downsides associated with heavy regulation. I thought this was very accurate because it can be used to benefit society but with too many regulations that may be hard. It was interesting to hear that to have this go successfully we must first lay the groundwork.

        At first my personal thought on this topic of the internet of things was that things are already a bit chaotic. It seems like data collection might to too far along to be able to regulate at this point but being able to regulate the autonomous technology seems very reasonable. Myself, for example, will always feel personally liable for anything that happens in my vehicle and I would never rely on a self-driving car. Because of this I personally do not care for any news related to autonomous vehicles, but I do agree it needs some regulation of some sort of accountability.

        Privacy is an issue associated with the internet of things. Companies can collect data on you and use it to market products to you. Companies can also sell your data. Many people feel strongly that this is an invasion of our privacy and others think it is ok if you have nothing to hide. At first, I thought I was not comfortable with companies and firms collecting data on me, but the more I thought about it and the more I was exposed to the situation, I changed my mind. A lot of the companies that collect data on you, do not charge you for their services or they use your data to try to enhance society such as medical research. With this being the case most of them need to make money somehow, so they make it via data collection. I would rather use these services for free and have them collect data on me, than actually have to pay a fee to use the services.

Case 2

The second case discussed the pros and cons of data mining. I think they did a really good job at portraying both sides unbiasedly and allowing the reader to form their own opinion. For the most part I am for data mining. I do believe it is used more for good than bad. However, I do believe some of it is bad and used for the benefit of the company and not the individual. I think that is where a lot of the controversy comes into play, even more than privacy.

Because overall, yes, it is a privacy issue, but would people care so much if it was truly used to benefit them and not just the company. An example of this would be the profiling for insurance. Insurance rates increase if you live in a bad part of town or are out driving late at night. Those things are not true indicators of whose insurance rates need to be higher. There are other ways to determine who is more at risk for an accident and who should have higher rates. For example, they could just use national averages of crashes for the age group of the driver, or even use the drives own personal driving data to calculate the rates.

As for the computerized hiring, I personally do not have a problem with that. More and more jobs become computerized and this is just a way for companies to save costs. They have special algorithms to determine who would be the best fit based on certain qualifications. Computerized hiring is mostly for lower paying jobs. However, it is still possible to go into the establishment and apply in person.

Some data miners are targeting financially vulnerable individuals. This is an example of the bad side of data mining. There will always be bad people who abuse power they should not, and this is a classic example of that. These data miners sell your personal data to other companies who would use that information to try to make money from you. This is very unethical, and I believe the only way around it is with regulation, which relates to Case 1.