Technology Can Be Scary

WBJ Observer talked with Adel Rouz, Executive Vice President at Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe about big data and the internet of things, two trends that are sure to shape the world in the near future Interview by Jacek Ciesnowski WBJ Observer:  The internet of things is one of the main areas that your company is working on. How do you envision this trend in the near future? Adel Rouz: I think the progress is very promising. Everyone is talking about it, not only IT specialists. Students, politicians are interested in it, because the internet of things will become the reality and not only for specialists but for everyone. For the time being, the internet of things is being used for specific cases. But over time, when the technology progresses, it will become commonplace. The other thing is application of the internet of things, the purposes for which it can be used. We’re talking about environment monitoring, energy management, health care, transport. If we can apply it to these sectors, the internet of things will become as real and common as smartphones are now. What about projects that are smaller in scale?  Something that doesn’t apply to the whole city, but rather to your own home? It’s all connected. Energy management will apply to your smarthouse. We already have smart TVs, next in line are smart fridges, smart computers, etc. To make it happen, three key elements need to be brought to the market . The first one is the device, the sensors and their miniaturization. The second one is energy efficiency of the sensors and the third one is a data collection and analytics platform to integrate all the data, provide solutions and uses. When will you be able to control all the devices in your home by the touch of a button? Within the next 3-4 years. Isn’t this vision a little scary? For people to be just simple button pushers? Recently, I saw a comparison of high school final exams from the 1930s and the present time. The difference of how much was demanded from teenagers then and how little they have to know now is terrifying.  And now, everything a person will have to know is when to push which button. Any technology can be scary. We need to think about what kind of solutions the technology can bring. But it is scary indeed, we used to communicate with each other face to face, we had these human interactions, we were able to see expressions on other people’s faces. Do you think that sending a message is communicating? Yes, we can use the technology for better use, but we need to stick to our values as a human beings. The biggest threat to the concept of both the internet of things and big data is security. There was recently a case of smart TVs recording casual conversations and sending them unencrypted over the internet. Such instances are very common and could turn potential users to stay “off the grid.” Take the internet for example. It has a lot of advantages, but many disadvantages as well. When people are using the web, they don’t even realize that they leave their footprint there, which may include a lot of sensitive information. Security is a valid concern and the essential key to success of every technology. Especially considering that the young generation is not security aware. They know that their information is being used, but do they care? This is where education should step in.