Are smart homes a threat or a boon to our privacy?

SMART HOMES

The present technologies available to consumers today clearly show how our lives are advancing. 20 to 30 years back video conferencing was a futuristic vision, which has now become a reality. The intelligence services that are a part of today are taking us to a more advanced and technical future. The launch of the Smarthome concept and Internet of things has turned dreams into reality.

The innovation of the Smarthomes

SMART HOMES

Smarthomes is a reality that we live in today. With the availability of web enabled services and devices, our simple homes are now converting into a personal hi tech zone. No doubt, smart homes are making out lives simple. With features like better cleaning services, improved personal security and health centric products and devices, we presently live in a world that is a boon but a curse also. Let us see how. 

It provides a way to live but also opens the doors to danger

The positive aspects of smart homes are not just restricted to the making out lives better. It is also paving a new path for better connectivity between family members as well as healthcare professionals. Smart homes are helping people in millions of ways. As much as they offer the benefits for elders and people with special needs to live their life independently, they also give criminals a chance to invade our privacy.

The known and unknown faces

SMART HOMES

The variety of voice and face recognition features helps in the identification of known and unknown person.  There is a still a long way to go in the identification process of a person who is safe and unsafe to be with. Today just by looking at a person, you cannot say if he is innocent or a criminal. However, with the upcoming advancement of face recognition technology, law enforcements will be able to recognize between the two and take the needful steps.

But what about the virtual world?

While all these features are restricted to the physical world, where a physical existence is required; the question that is unanswered is the threat of the virtual world. Everyday there are many people who become victims of virtual crime; this is just restricted to the use of the laptop or mobile phone. With our home devices connecting to the internet, we are exposing ourselves to the virtual world.

Just like everything else, there is a dark side to the world as well. Hackers and unauthorized people can easily get into our home network when we connect to the internet. With smarthomes connecting to the net, do we really have that much of security to ensure that we can deal with the unknown faces?

An enemy with face is better than an enemy without face. In the attempt to make our lives easy, are we giving the faceless criminals a chance to get right into the most secured zone of our lives. The question that arises here is.

Are Smart Homes worth this risk?
SMART HOMES

To tackle these situations, governments and smart home company manufactures have to take lucrative and concrete steps to ensure the safety and well-being of the public. Governments will have to put more cyber related laws in place to ensure that companies as well as people do not invade into a private space of a person. Considering the way the global population is increasing, this will not be a cakewalk.

On the other hand, companies still have a chance to do something for the safety and security of their consumers. Just as how they are coming up with new and advanced technologies and services to help consumers; similarly, they also need to take concrete and solid steps to come up with Anti-Hack security policies.

The Silver lining behind the dark cloud

If consumers and companies form a better bond and relationship, we can tackle these situations easily and efficiently.  Consumers need to start speaking out what they feel in their mind. Companies should have the ear to listen to it and the brain to act accordingly.

Presently, the smart home industry is still growing; there is a lot of margin to improve. We have seen a rapid growth on this front; the numbers are clear and show that it is only growing. As of today, the situation is that smarts homes are a boon for the society, but still they pose a constant threat to our privacy. They still have a chance to become better, and with the right efforts, proper strategy and implementation of strong security measures; they do have a chance to be a boon to our privacy as well.

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