SNHU Balancing Convenience and Privacy in IoT Design Discussion

Question:

In your response posts, imagine that you are developing a new IoT device for a company. What aspects of privacy would influence your design based on the points your peers made in their initial posts?

PEER POST # 1

After reviewing the “Internet of Things: Convenience vs Privacy and Secrecy” resource, there were a few things I’ve considered.

In order to answer the question “As IoT devices become more widely adopted, to what extent are you willing to sacrifice your privacy for convenience”, I would like to take a comparison as to how things used to be. Remember the days where GPS was not a thing, not widely adopted, and were required to use a map to find our way? Or even a little after that, MapQuest to print out directions to a location. It may have been difficult to follow the map or these directions to a tee, resulting in the inconvenience of the travel. It was easy to get lost and ask for directions. Time was lost and tensions were higher. Now, we have GPS, currently having our location being tracked for convenience’s sake. Nowadays, there are those who can’t read a map or can’t drive without requiring GPS to tell them where to go. If they make a wrong turn, no worries, they will be re-routed based on their current position. The GPS knows where we are at all times. But as long as we can get to our destination, it doesn’t matter. It’s convenient.

With that being said, we have, in a sense, conformed to this lifestyle of convenience due to modern day technology. We don’t think about how much privacy data is being spilled to the devices we are using to get to our destinations. As IoT devices are becoming more widely adopted, as long as our convenience is lessened, we will continue to sacrifice our privacy. As long as my essential personal information (credit card info, SSN, etc) is not compromised, I will continue to do so. I believe as a collective community; we will continue to do the same.

Given my stance of privacy, as a consumer, I can understand the pervasiveness of IoT. Overall, it’s making our lives easier. It’s also helping us with providing real-time data when we request it. I understand there are risks to everything, but I think the trade off is worth it. We just have to be more careful about the information we are sharing. Such security needs to be addressed in every school for children, teens, and adults alike.

PEER POST # 2

The Internet of Things (IoT) is finding its way into many aspects of daily life, from technologies such as portable fitness trackers (such as FitBit or Apple Watch) to smart thermostats. These technologies are often quite resourceful and make life easier, however, the privacy concerns that come along with them are worth discussing. It is an understandable position to be concerned about the privacy implications of IoT adoption, as many of these technologies track and store your behaviors. I’d say I am willing to somewhat sacrifice my privacy for these devices, as the convenience aspect often outweighs the potential risks for me. Typically, if asked, I provide the minimum requirements for personal information so that I can both protect my privacy (where I can) and still be able to use the technology. If the IoT device requires information that is more sensitive (such as financial information or government ID numbers), then I typically do not adopt it in an abundance of caution. I think these technologies can be great assets and should not be outright avoided. I think the most important thing is to be mindful of the amount of information you provide.

I used to want to adopt new IoT devices early on because of their ability to make common tasks less of a hassle. However, in recent years I have adopted a more cautious approach. The pervasiveness of IoT makes me more mindful when I am purchasing new devices. Many new devices in the current age can communicate with the Internet, which can lead to potential privacy concerns. As a consumer, I want to be sure that devices in my possession are not going to track me in ways that I am not aware of. I often do extensive research on the manufacturer of the device to see what their track record is when it comes to privacy practices and security. As mentioned by Weinberg et al. (2015), “a consumer’s trust and relationships will be based more on how well privacy is respected and maintained” (5.2 Privacy and relationship marketing section, para. 2). A big disqualifier for me is if the company has no documentation of a Privacy Policy.

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