Technology – Impacting your life?

No matter where you look these days, technology is present. Sure the computer on the desk or kitchen table is a sure sign, but look at your car, phone, TV and the list goes on. Technology making a good impact on your life or is it really becoming intrusive? Had enough? Frustrated?

I don’t think it will be possible to have a technology free life. In fact, I think we will have more technology in our everyday life going forward. From smart phones, to smart homes, to the kitchen, on top of cars getting smarter, and computer user interfaces.

Imagine you having a smart watch that monitors your health vitals and reports on you to the doctor, or you being able to use voice commands in the house to have recipes brought up on the kitchen counter for cooking. Cool and useful – but necessary?

What about all this data this is now being collected about us from all these computers? The GPS in the car can tell where I went, the grocery store can tell what I purchased, the health information of my everyday life sent to the doctor or perhaps health insurance company. The smart house knows when I came home, who came home, and so forth. How you going to protect all this data now collected about your every move, habit, routine? Intrusive?

The other part of this wave of technology about to come over our head, is the need to start linking all this together into a portal like facebook or twitter to broadcast my every move, pictures or activities. Sounds far fetched or crazy – it is happening today.

I am a technologist at heart, but the internal struggle I have is the data collection or availability of this data. I like cool new technology, having a smart house you can call out commands to or no longer need a key to get into the house, it recognizes me – cool. So how do you get a handle on the privacy side of all this, and who should have access to this data? Just because we can do all this, should we?

I think the laws need to catch up to some of this new technology. Cell phone data, home access systems, GPS systems, - all these systems that know something about you should not be used against you, there needs to be protection, rights, and understanding. The technology is great and will make for a better life, but at what price? Are we blindly giving up our rights or freedoms in the name of technology?

I propose to you that we will need to be very observant and really understand and configure the technology appropriately to protect the privacy and rights of the user. Have the technology make for a better life, but don’t keep the data around on these systems if not necessary. Flush the data out as soon as it no longer serves a purpose. Ensure the security concerns are addressed, and don’t share more information than necessary. With all this technology and social networking comes social engineering and security threats. Take them serious, and if you need help – ask or hire it out to a reputable company to ensure the technology, data, and interfaces are safe and secure.

Keep positive!



Scott Arnett
Scott.arnett@charter.net