#+TITLE: A Thing in the Internet of Things
#+SETUPFILE: ../../theme_lev1.setup

* Daily Automation
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CUSTOM_ID: daily-automation
  :END:

John was jogging in the park, it is known that it’s good for your
health. This is what they say. Especially since it had become a unique,
tailor-made, personalized experience for every savvy user like John. His
latest generation smartwatch was so smart that the sensors it was
equipped with were able to detect and measure not only his heart and
respiratory rate, but also, thanks to a hygrometer, his state of
hydration. It recorded this precious data, extracted from John’s sweat,
and compared it in real time with that of other runners. There was a
special app with which it was possible to go up a lot in the ranking,
with relatively little effort, and get a badge to access the /pro/
level!

In order to enter the game of mutual measurement, obviously the
smartwatch was connected to the Internet, not directly, but via the
smartphone that housed its aerodynamic backbone. The cameras along the
way, in addition to monitoring the park (for your safety, you never know
what might happen!), were concerned with capturing his strides, and
posting the best poses on social profiles, carefully selected by his
phone, the smartest device of all.

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It, the telephone, was in constant activity. For John it was more than a
phone book or an assistant: it was a counselor, a friend, a second brain
far more powerful than his, at times! Certainly more precise: it
controlled the investments, sent the latest personalized news to the
headset, monitored the cameras at home and in the office, cast an eye on
the social accounts of his children and their friends and notified him
of suspicious movements, visits not certified by the database “Friends
and acquaintances”. That’s how it is with kids, you never know what
they’re doing, of course they should be free: but better to keep an eye
on them! This is what John thought.

Of course, the smartphone also controlled the profiles of his friends
and colleagues, it filtered the best contents, better than if he would
have selected them by himself. It remembered all the birthdays, all the
anniversaries. Even those that concerned the competitors, so he did not
fail to tease and rekindle old rivalries, a post on the dream holidays
that awaited him, another on that contract torn from those losers of the
competitors, nothing cruel, but it was good to keep things clear. And
then, you know: many enemies, much honor!

But the smartphone was not only a social tool: it was also a real
domestic helper, indeed, the organizer of everything. It updated the
backups of its various devices. He paid his bills with a regularity that
only electronic brains can have. He ordered the robot vacuum cleaner to
give a pass in the kitchen and in the living room. And while it was
there, in order not to remain with circuits inactive, it connected to
the IoT washing machine and started a washing cycle at the perfect
moment, when the sun was high and the production of photovoltaic panels
on the roof of the house was optimal. And it regulated all the other
consumption, also the consumption of the fridge…

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“Caution! You’re getting dehydrated,” said the smartwatch on his wrist.
The phone wasted no time, recalled the refrigerator’a latest inventory,
but apparently only half a can of his favorite drink was available.
Furthermore, John had expressed the desire, in the wishlist of one of
the purchase portals he subscribed to, to try the latest special
Stuff-cola, with levels of mineral salts customized according to his own
social profile.

Fortunately, the fridge was a new IoT model, the Internet of Things,
connected directly to the portal in question. Without wasting time to
consult him, he bought a personalized Stuff-cola using his
cryptocredits, passed his GPS coordinates from the phone and
communicated them to the portal. A few seconds later, once the
transaction and the checks had been made, a drone left the portal’s
closest warehouse. It found him on the path in a few minutes and
unhooked the can, made of unbreakable plastic. The headset intoned a
“coming!” John stopped for a second, looked up, just in time to grab the
can. Awesome! Ah, how wonderful, the Internet of Things!

At home, the shower water was at the perfect temperature. It regulated
itself on the parameters of the history of showers taken daily that the
telephone continually updated according to the diet indicated by his
personal trainer and validated by the Health Portal and his insurance.
It was good a good thing to have everything profiled all the time! Any
data extracted from the subject was used to maximize the consumer
experience. Other than wasting time evaluating, weighing, deciding. If
you sweat, you are thirsty, and you want a fuffacola now: end of the
matter.

@@latex:\vspace{\baselineskip}@@

Suddenly, a thought flashed through John’s mind. It was the case to
throw away that half can that only cluttered the fridge, he seemed to
remember a notification that if the fridge was clear of competitors they
would have given him an extra fuffacola in the next purchase!

#+BEGIN_QUOTE

Caution. Credit is not enough to open. Please, select a video. You can
skip advertisements between 9'', 8'', 7''…

#+END_QUOTE

But what was going on? It had to be a misunderstanding. The refrigerator
didn’t want to open because it claimed that John didn’t have enough
credits. On the other hand, the refrigerator was not his own. Like most
of the smart home changeover, it was a sentient terminal on the Purchase
Portal, which he had placed at home without purchasing obligations, in
exchange for a ridiculous subscription. 

Among other things, the technician said that it was also able to check daily for firmware
updates and everything else, so he was 100% safe from any intrusion. Yes
but apparently it didn’t want to open! And now, John had to put up with
a video on his fridge screen, which wasn’t even in 4k, a video taken who
knows where, all in order to accumulate some change and convince him to
open up? But yeah, the fridge wasn’t his own, so he either paid for it
or waited and paid by watching the video. This irritated him a lot.
Better go for a ride.

#+BEGIN_QUOTE

Caution. Credit is not enough to open. Please, select a video. You can
skip advertisements between 9'', 8'', 7''…

#+END_QUOTE

Damn it, even the built-in screen on the front door was determined to
annoy him. On the other hand, they were all intelligent objects,
connected to each other, and if he had no credit… Maybe it was better
to watch those damn videos.

* Understanding: /IoT/ (Internet of Things)
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CUSTOM_ID: understanding-iot-internet-of-things
  :END:

/IoT/ is the interconnection through the Internet of objects, often
equipped with sensors: cameras, microphones and other surveillance
devices; or household appliances (washing machines, refrigerators,
boilers, stoves); parts of houses (doors, gates, windows); apparatus for
the production of electricity (photovoltaic panels, wind turbines,
turbines); cars, industrial robots, drones, consumer goods including
food, clothing and so on.

* Hamsters on the Consumer Wheel?
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CUSTOM_ID: hamsters-on-the-consumer-wheel
  :END:

Automation is a great invention. Saves time and energy otherwise used
for repetitive and tedious tasks. The technologies for realizing
everyday automation had rapidly changed the way people related to each
other and the objects around them, with the stated goal of creating
perfectly coordinated and integrated systems. 

The first step had been /profiling/, followed closely by /gamification/ techniques to increase
the speed of interactions more and more and make them fluid. In fact,
there was talk of a liquid market, a perfect market, without friction, a
dream of /libertarianism/, in which every interaction was measured,
quantified, evaluated and therefore was likely to be bought or sold.

The /Internet of Things/ was made up of devices for the automation of
private houses and public buildings, the so-called home automation; of
radio frequency RFID circuits incorporated in the clothes that
communicated with each other, capable of minimizing the costs of
inventory, storage, logistics, because it was possible to know at any
time where there was an object equipped with an RFID tag. 

It was made of drones for the delivery of purchases and sensors for fitness: all
machines that carried out their program. No rebellion of the machines,
on the contrary: non-humans scrupulously carried out the commands given.
Nothing new compared to previous systems, but faster and less
controllable, with unpredictable effects. An error in the code of an IoT
camera could affect the entire network.

* The Hacker Says...
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CUSTOM_ID: the-hacker-says
  :END:

If you want to take a tour in the maze of the Internet of Things, a good
starting point is SHODAN, a search engine that allows you to search for
bugs from smart devices, but also simply to know who is using your smart
device in the world, and how.

https://www.shodan.io/
