> > Is there any part of the "Internet of Things" that is well thought out? > The part where we use this largely ubiquitous, globally accessible network to giv

> > Is there any part of the "Internet of Things" that is well thought out? > The part where we use this largely ubiquitous, globally accessible network to give folks the power to control and/or monitor the devices that they own from any place of their choosing? I think IoT conflates a few different ideas, some of which are better than others: - Remote control. Moving household controls like heating to a virtual interface would allow me to control everything from the same place, eg. my laptop (which I'm normally sat in front of anyway). It also allows meta-level controllers to be written, eg. using cron jobs, or defining a bunch of common settings like "cold night", "frugal", etc. - Home automation. This makes control automatic, and can involve homeostatic properties, eg. thermostats keeping a constant temperature; reactive systems like motion sensors switching on lights; to constraint/rule-based scheduling of tasks and appliances (eg. the washing must be done by Friday, but use the cheapest electricity; ensure heating and cooling are never on at the same time; etc.) - Putting it all online. I think this is the biggest problem at the moment. It's being pushed by vendors, presumably because they can gather usage data, push automatic updates, and mobile access is easier to set up with one centralised server rather than using WiFi. There are benefits to doing this, but I think they're massively outweighed by the security considerations; it would take a big technological leap from the current models to change that (eg. the widespread use of practical verification; or robust damage limitation mechanisms, like capability models; etc.)