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Mi Gyeong Gwak
Dr. William Lyle
CSC 540
29 April 2014
Internet of Things
Let’s imagine that simple things in sci-fi movies happen in real life. In this universe we
do not need to spend time cooking breakfast because the toaster automatically operates when the
alarm clock rings. We also do not need to worry about forgetting to turn off the lights before
leaving the house because the lighting system responds to the door being locked. These ideas are
not just staying in the imagination. High technology keeps developing and propels our
imagination into reality. Our imagination of the convenient life can be achieved through the
Internet of things (IoT), a popular word for emerging products that are smart and can
communicate wirelessly. The capacity for wireless communication between two objects or
between object and human helps to make the devices smart. The smartphone, smart TV, smart
watch, and smart car; they are applications of the IoT and found easily all around us. The pace of
creating and introducing new products is rapid, however our ability to solve the social and ethical
issues created by ushering in these products and their approaches to life seems relatively slow.
We are required to know about definitions, technologies, applications and ethical issues of the
IoT.
The Internet of things is a technology that applies within a geographically circumscribed
environment, where diverse objects communicate with one another through the Internet. Cisco
defines the IoT further: “these objects contain embedded technology to interact with internal
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states or the external environment. In other words, when objects can sense and communicate, it
changes how and where decisions are made, and who makes them.” The defining features of IoT
are ubiquity, miniaturization, ambiguity, identification, connectivity, mediation and autonomous
agency, embedded intelligence, seamless transfer, distributed control, big data, and
unpredictability (Hoven 4). Delft University of Technology explains that:
The user is engulfed and immersed by IoT… Computing technology will
become translucent and has the tendency to disappear from human sight… The
distinctions between natural objects, artefacts and human beings tends to blur as a
result of the facile transformation of entities of one type into the other by means
of tagging, engineering and absorption into a networks of artefacts…seemingly
insignificant objects and artifacts will have unique identities…The IoT
environment provides ways of extending and augmenting human
agency…Interaction, information flow with IoT context will be effortless, with
potentially very low transaction and information cost (Hoven 4).
A video by International Data Corporation, a market research company, explains that we are
living in a digital universe and four major migrations from analog to digital have emerged:
computer, phones, cameras, and machines (Intel.com). Embedded systems, integrated smartness
and intelligent systems are interchangeable in usage with the term IoT.
The term Internet of Things was proposed by Kevin Ashton, co-founder and executive
director of the Auto-ID Center (LiveScience.com). Also, he described features of the IoT in the
2009 RFID Journal; “If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about
things—using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track and count
everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed
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replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best”
(LiveScience.com). Intel is one of the companies that invests in and develops the IoT and
estimates that 15 billion objects by 2015 and 200 billion objects by 2020 will be connected to the
Internet as wireless links. This is the equivalent of each person having about 26 smart objects by
2020. Also, Intel is estimating the total global worth of IoT technology could be as much as $6.2
trillion in health care, manufacturing, etc. Cisco is advertising the IoT business as the Internet of
Everything, which means pretty much everything that we can imagine will wake up online. IBM
is suggesting the idea of building a smarter planet by developing intelligence through the IoT.
Programming knowledge will be required to accomplish these goals. As computer science
majors, the IoT is a very important technology for which we need to prepare and understand in
order to be prepared for this this digital universe that is coming. This preparation will provide
information about the main technology that is used for IoT applications, ethical issues and
current legal protections.
The IoT requires technology for communication, protocol, hardware, and software.
According to Wikipedia, “Radio-frequency identification (RFID) was seen as a prerequisite for
the Internet of Things in the early days. If all objects and people in daily life were equipped with
identifiers, they could be managed and inventoried by computers. Besides using RFID, the
tagging of things may be achieved through such technologies as near field communication,
barcodes, QR codes and digital watermarking.” A RFID device uses a specific radio-frequency
tag in order to uniquely identify an object and for automatically tracking tags attached to an
object. It does not require direct contact or line-of-sight scanning like a barcodes (Rouse 1). Near
field communication (NFC) uses similar technology as RFID and is usually associated with
smartphones since the range of communication should be less than a few inches. Applications of
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NFC are formed as simple as tags, stickers, key fobs, or cards that do not need power. Bluetooth
and WiFi are common wireless communication technology for data exchange. Bluetooth uses
short-wavelength radio waves and is used to build personal area networks. The Wi-Fi Alliance
defines Wi-Fi as any "wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards” (Postscapes.com).
There are additional methods used to build communication for the IoT, such as EnOcean,
Weightless, global system for mobile communications (GSM), 3G, 4G LTE, Etherent, Zigbee,
etc.
Each object needs to have unique identification online. “IP (short for Internet Protocol)
specifies the technical format of packets and the addressing scheme for computers to
communicate over a network. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a
destination and a source” (Webopedia). Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the latest version
and uses 128-bit address compared to IPv4 that uses 32-bit address. TCP provides reliable,
ordered and error-checked delivery, such as sending data in the form of message units between
hosts in computers or in interconnected communication networks. However, user datagram
protocol (UDP) offers fast, lightweight, but unreliable delivery of data and a connectionless
datagram service between hosts.
Basic knowledge of hardware, software, and cloud service for the IoT will help you to
build your IoT device. Postscapes.com explains that “manufactures like Gainspan, Wiznet,
Nordic Semiconductor, TI and others are creating self-contained, RF-certified module solutions
that have TCP, UDP and IP on chip.” Prototyping boards are available like the Arduino,
Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black in order to start your own IoT project. Postscapes.com also
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explains some software for IoT: “RIOT OS is an operating system for Internet of Things (IoT)
devices. It is based on a microkernel and designed for energy efficiency, hardware independent
development, a high degree of modularity… Thingsquare Mist open source firmware is
exceptionally lightweight, battle-proven, and works with multiple microcontrollers with a range
of radios.” IoT generate tremendous data since it keeps tracking every moment and cloud service
is important to store the big data. There are numerous cloud platforms for IoT, such as
ThingWorx, Evrythng, and Sense.
Any type of objects can be smart with sensors that acquire data and have wireless
communication ability. Various applications of the IoT are being developed continuously. You
do not want to miss some cool products that are already in the market. Mimo monitor is a baby
suit that has sensors and provides real-time information about baby’s breathing, skin temperature,
body position, and activity level on parent’s smartphone. BeClose system can track an aging
family member’s daily routine and gives alert through smartphone when any serious disruptions
detected in their normal schedule using a wearable alarm button and other discrete wireless
sensors placed around the home. Also, there are other applications that can track information in
city, industry and environment (Postscapes.com).
Libelium, wireless sensor networks hardware manufacturer, is selling products that can
be applied in many different arenas: city, environment, water, metering, security, retail, logistics,
industrial control, agriculture, home, and health. If I were to pick some applications from these
areas in order to build a smart campus for Murray State University, I might pick smart parking
which is the monitoring of parking space availability in order to help a lot of student-drivers save
time in their effort to get to a class. Potable water monitoring that displays the quality of tap
water on campus would provide convenience for those attempting to choose better water.
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Structural health system that provide for the monitoring of vibrations and material conditions in
the campus buildings will protect students’ safety since some of our school buildings are old, and
we need to be aware in case of imminent collapse as shown in the example of the building in
downtown Murray. These are some examples of applying the IoT on campus and I do not think
that it will take long time to easily see these applications around our area.
According to David Talbot from MIT technology review on April 21, “Now Bug Labs, a
New York City company, is trying to make it as easy to create an Internet of things application
as it is to put a file into Dropbox.” A sample demo is available on their website, dweet.io, and
my mouse curser location was posted instantaneously on the website. I assume data from internet
capable devices can be posted on the website using Javascrpt object notation (JSON) which is a
lightweight data-interchange format. Users can set up a device name online and maintain privacy
through purchasing a lock for 99 cents per month. This method suggests that anybody can easily
monitor data from any Internet-capable object through an online website.
The IoT brings convenience into our lives; however the ethical issues are increasing. The
biggest ethical issue of the IoT is privacy. Your personal information would not be private
anymore if someone or some device that you do not expected keeps monitoring your daily life,
such as your heart rate, calories burned, medicine that you took, or what you purchased at a
market. Also, losing a device that was tracking and customized a person’s daily activities will
cause a loss of privacy right. How many people, who are using a smartphone that is tracking
personal information, such as financial records, medical records, and location information, would
feel comfortable about losing their phone? As IoT keeps developing, devices and cloud storage
and linkage services that IoT uses requires serious advancement in being secured and protected.
Rachel Metz from MIT Review said that, “it might be some effort to get this kind of scenario,
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but if breaking into one server means you get to ransack 100, 1,000, 10,000 people’s homes,
that’s definitely worth it, and that’s where the real danger lies." It would be scary that thousands
of people’s data can be stolen by hacking one server. According to Rachel Metz, “Starbucks [has]
coffee makers that update recipes automatically and track consumer preferences to connected
cars; the IoT is already big business.”
Since the IoT operates without the control of the user in the environment of the Internet
connection, it is unavoidable that malicious usage or cybercrime through the Internet could occur,
such as by hacking or through a virus. Only a few months ago, an interesting cybercrime
occurred. According to an article from Daily Mail, “In this case, hackers broke into more than
100,000 everyday consumer gadgets that were connected to the internet, such as homenetworking routers, connected multimedia centres, televisions, and at least one refrigerator. They
then used those objects to send more than 750,000 malicious spam phishing emails to enterprises
and individuals throughout the world.” Many companies are investing in IoT security. Cisco is
trying to solve the security challenges of the IoT through a competition that is offering prize
worth up to $300,000 for the winner (ZDnet).
The IoT can cause discrimination against certain groups of people who do not have
access to the Internet or chose not to do so. According to research in 2013 by International
Telecommunication Union, 2.7 billion people, which is almost 40 % of the world’s population,
are internet users, and “in the developing world, 31 % of the population is online, compared with
77 % in the developed world.” Although the percentage of the internet users is growing, we
cannot ignore the fact that more than half of the world’s population does not have access to the
Internet, and they are restricted from the society built by the IoT. The Code of Ethics for the
IEEE states that it will strive “to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion,
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gender, disability, age, or national origin” (IEEE, 2012). Also, the ACM Code of Ethics states it
will “be fair and take action not to discriminate” (ACM council, 2012). We have an ethical
responsibility to reduce the gap between people group who can access the Internet and who
cannot since we have privilege to use the Internet.
Laws and regulations for the ethical issues of the IoT become significant issues and need
to be developed to better protect and prevent the malicious usage of the IoT. Based on result of
privacy law of the United States, Wikipedia has this entry: “… there are Constitutional limits to
the government's intrusion into individuals' right to privacy.” The Fourth Amendment to the
United States Constitution ensures that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”
(Wikipedia). Some states have dealt with the issue in their legislatures. The California
constitution declares privacy as an inalienable right and its “Shine the Light” law in 2005
declares: “… outlines specific rules regarding how and when a business must disclose use of a
customer's personal information and imposes civil damages for violation of the law” (Wikipedia).
There is Global privacy policy for international companies, but there are agreements for Internet
usage. They need to be forged since the internet is global. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
(CFAA) prohibits possible cybercrime, such as “accessing a "protected computer," which the
courts have recently interpreted as being any computer connected to the Internet, even if the
intruder obtains no data” and “trafficking in computer passwords for the purpose of affecting
interstate commerce or a government computer” (Frontline). It is also clearly declaring the
regulation of “theft of financial information” and “transmitting code that causes damage to a
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computer system” (Frontline). Anyone violating the CFAA will receive punishment of “a prison
sentence as long as 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000” (Frontline). The Electronic
Communication Privacy Act (ECPA) accounts “for the increasing amount of communications
and data transferred and stored on computer systems… under the law, unauthorized access to
computer messages, whether in transit or in storage, is a federal crime” (Frontline).
Our imagination becomes reality through the IoT advancements that are taking place, and
it cannot be easily ignored. It is certain to become pervasive in our lives in the near future. As
future computer scientists, our responsibility to use our technical knowledge wisely in
developing new products and business models will increase in importance. Building a better
smart world through the IoT depends on us, on our action.
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Works Cited
"50 Sensor Applications for a Smarter World." Libelium Connecting Sensors to the Cloud RSS. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.libelium.com/top_50_iot_sensor_applications_ranking/>.
"A Guide to The Internet of Things." . Intel Corporation, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/iot/internet-of-things-infographic.html>.
Brooks, Chad. "The Internet of Things: A Seamless Network of Everyday Objects." . LiveScience, 31
July 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.livescience.com/38562-internet-of-things.html>.
"Computer Crime Laws." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/blame/crimelaws.html>.
"Ethical Issues - The Internet of Things." Ethical Issues - The Internet of Things. SUNY Cortland, n.d.
Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <https://sites.google.com/a/cortland.edu/the-internet-of-things/ethics>.
Hoven, Jeroen. "Fact sheet- Ethics Subgroup IoT - Version 4.0." European Commission: 21. Web.
"ICT Facts and Figures." . International Telecommunication Union, 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2013-e.pdf>.
"Internet of Things Examples - Postscapes." Internet of Things Examples - Postscapes. Postscapes, n.d.
Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://postscapes.com/internet-of-things-examples/>.
"Internet of Things Technologies- Postscapes." Postscapes. Postscapes, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://postscapes.com/internet-of-things-technologies>.
"Internet of Things." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things>.
Osborne, Charlie. "Cisco launches Internet of Things security challenge | ZDNet." ZDNet. ZDNet, 3
Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.zdnet.com/cisco-launches-internet-of-things-security-challenge7000026925/>.
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Rouse, Margaret. "RFID (radio frequency identification)." What is ?. Search Manufacturing ERP, 1
Apr. 2007. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/RFID>.
Talbot, David. "An Easy Internet of Things Interface | MIT Technology Review." MIT Technology
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<http://www.technologyreview.com/news/526006/an-easy-interface-for-the-internet-of-things/>.
"What is The Difference Between IPv6 and IPv4?." The Difference Between IPv6 and IPv4 Explained.
N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/ipv6_ipv4_difference.html>.
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new bot army for the spammers?." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2541306/Cyber-criminals-hack-REFRIGERATOR-sendmalicious-emails-worlds-household-attack.html>.