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With connected devices being deployed with complex software (Linux) and hardware vendors who have no auto-deployment plan for security updates, I think consumer

With connected devices being deployed with complex software (Linux) and hardware vendors who have no auto-deployment plan for security updates, I think consumers should be wary.

alistairSH 11y ago
Completely agree, though I'd love to see the actual questions asked, as I would be shocked if near 50% of consumers ranked security as a concern without prompting. Personally, my waning interest in IoT devices is due mostly to lack of increased utility. A new fridge that displays my Google Calendar doesn't really offer me much additional value, at the cost of adding another failure mode to the device. Having had several newer appliances with failed touch-pads or electronic modules, I'm loath to buy a device that has even more fancy electronics. As for phones and tablets, I feel like I've reached the point where new iterations don't offer much additional value. Roughly equivalent to how I felt about PCs/laptops 7-8 years ago. Battery life isn't getting better (without going large), screen resolutions are great, cameras are great, and the devices are fast enough for the apps I use most (email, calendar, phone, camera, Flickr, and Kindle).
- pessimizer 11y ago
  > I would be shocked if near 50% of consumers ranked security as a concern without prompting. I wouldn't doubt it, but consumers have no way to evaluate security. It ends up boiling down to which product has "Now with Added SECURITY!" on the box in the most convincing typeface.
- ptaffs 11y ago
  they don't share the question asked, but the PDF has a little more: "Out of the consumers aware of hacker attacks and owning or planning to own IoT devices in the next five years, 18 percent decided to terminate the use of the devices..." https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-3/Accenture-Igniting-Growth-in-Consumer-Technology.pdf https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-3/Accenture-Igniting... Knowing the government actually snoops, and that hackers could also snoop will take the triviality out of a non-compelling connected device.
  - pm24601 11y ago
    I wouldn't assume that most Americans know anything about the NSA snooping. Last Week Tonight ( John Oliver ) did man-on-the-street interviews last year to find out how many people knew about Edward Snowden. The number was approaching zero. I would take a bet that the NSA is just as well known.
- pjc50 11y ago
  Exactly. A lot (not all, but a lot) of IOT is solutions in search of a problem, promoted by a tech industry that sees the adoption curve of existing tech reaching saturation. The tragedy is that so much of the innovation we saw over the last 30 years came from the openness of the PC platform: hardware and software could innovate independently, and there was no software "veto" by a platform holder. But that model doesn't allow for monopoly profits, so everyone's trying to build locked incompatible platforms.

With connected devices being deployed with complex software (Linux) and hardware vendors who have no auto-deployment plan for security updates, I think consumers should be wary.

alistairSH 11y ago

Completely agree, though I'd love to see the actual questions asked, as I would be shocked if near 50% of consumers ranked security as a concern without prompting. Personally, my waning interest in IoT devices is due mostly to lack of increased utility. A new fridge that displays my Google Calendar doesn't really offer me much additional value, at the cost of adding another failure mode to the device. Having had several newer appliances with failed touch-pads or electronic modules, I'm loath to buy a device that has even more fancy electronics. As for phones and tablets, I feel like I've reached the point where new iterations don't offer much additional value. Roughly equivalent to how I felt about PCs/laptops 7-8 years ago. Battery life isn't getting better (without going large), screen resolutions are great, cameras are great, and the devices are fast enough for the apps I use most (email, calendar, phone, camera, Flickr, and Kindle).

pessimizer 11y ago
> I would be shocked if near 50% of consumers ranked security as a concern without prompting. I wouldn't doubt it, but consumers have no way to evaluate security. It ends up boiling down to which product has "Now with Added SECURITY!" on the box in the most convincing typeface.
ptaffs 11y ago
they don't share the question asked, but the PDF has a little more: "Out of the consumers aware of hacker attacks and owning or planning to own IoT devices in the next five years, 18 percent decided to terminate the use of the devices..." https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-3/Accenture-Igniting-Growth-in-Consumer-Technology.pdf https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-3/Accenture-Igniting... Knowing the government actually snoops, and that hackers could also snoop will take the triviality out of a non-compelling connected device.
- pm24601 11y ago
  I wouldn't assume that most Americans know anything about the NSA snooping. Last Week Tonight ( John Oliver ) did man-on-the-street interviews last year to find out how many people knew about Edward Snowden. The number was approaching zero. I would take a bet that the NSA is just as well known.
pjc50 11y ago
Exactly. A lot (not all, but a lot) of IOT is solutions in search of a problem, promoted by a tech industry that sees the adoption curve of existing tech reaching saturation. The tragedy is that so much of the innovation we saw over the last 30 years came from the openness of the PC platform: hardware and software could innovate independently, and there was no software "veto" by a platform holder. But that model doesn't allow for monopoly profits, so everyone's trying to build locked incompatible platforms.