The internet of things economy has significant implications for the rapid expansion of the surveillance state. This has resulted in a lot of serious ethical and privacy questions and some push back. The following article by John Lorinc as part of the Toronto Star Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy Series explores these issues well. – David Thornley
“On a Zoom call earlier in the year, Jim Benson, a senior marketing executive for GE Current, is walking through a slick but intriguing PowerPoint presentation, extolling the diverse virtues of the company’s smart lighting “nodes. The devices come with air quality monitors and fish-eye cameras that can monitor bike or vehicle volumes, unsafe driving and parking infractions. There’s even an audio device linked to a third-party software system called “ShotSpotter,” which detects gunfire, estimates the location and notifies 911. […]”
