Where did I say that anything in particular is likely? If the "horrifying...total surveillance" remark put you off, that was not at all meant to imply "ubiquit

Where did I say that anything in particular is likely? If the "horrifying...total surveillance" remark put you off, that was not at all meant to imply "ubiquitous networking must be bad because of this story, so let's prohibit it!". In fact, in the story the smart dust, via the backdoor, provides the ability for the hero to break the (very, very nasty) oppressive regime.