Possessed: The Digital Home
A woman falls asleep on the floor. She wakes, terrified and in excruciating pain to find a robot vacuum cleaner chewing up her hair. The cuddly toy you bought your toddler daughter turns out to be secretly recording your private conversations, the bedtime stories you read together and her sleeping and then broadcasting them on the internet.
The CCTV you installed to keep your house safe from burglars is hacked and your life ends up as a 24-hour reality show without you knowing. It is a big hit in Japan.
Your smart home is compromised, the lock code is changed shutting you out, the sound system is cranked up to 11, blaring out while you’re stuck in the drive. The lights are flashing on and off like a disco. You realise there is a party going on inside and you weren’t invited. Perhaps it is just the machines having a good time.
Some of these have happened. For others, it’s only a matter of time. Our houses are being possessed. And the 21st century’s evil spirits are the ghosts controlling our machine. This is the “internet of things”, the much-vaunted next iteration of the connected landscape of domestic and urban objects. The dream is of a connected world in which products talk to each other and everything becomes more efficient, seamless.
It is a world which is already populated by domestic devices such as Nest’s home-control systems, the hair-eating robot vacuum cleaner (yep, that one’s true), smart fridges, lighting systems and ovens. And the dream of all these manufacturers is that they will be able to harvest your most intimate data. The user survey and the focus group will be replaced by real-time information. Unknowingly, we will be conducting market research for the manufacturers and online retailers as we carry out our domestic chores, eat, chat and just move around in our homes.
Vocabulary
excruciating pain – very strong or severe pain that hurts a lot, “He was in excruciating pain after he broke his arm.”
toddler – a very young child who is just learning to walk, usually 1 to 3 years old, “The toddler fell down while trying to chase the cat.”
secretly recording – taking video or audio of someone without letting them know, “The hidden camera was secretly recording everything in the shop.”
broadcasting – sending out a program or information over the internet, television, or radio, “The radio station is broadcasting live music tonight.”
CCTV – security cameras used to watch a place and stop crime, “The shop owner checked the CCTV to see who stole the phone.”
burglars – thieves who break into buildings or houses to steal things, “The family locked all windows to keep burglars out.”
compromised – broken into or made unsafe because a security system failed, “My email account was compromised, so I had to change my password.”
cranked up to 11 – turned up to the highest or loudest possible level, “He cranked the car radio up to 11 because he loved the song.”
blaring out – making a very loud, sudden, or shocking noise, “Music was blaring out from the neighbor’s house past midnight.”
only a matter of time – certain to happen at some point in the future, “If you do not fix that car, it is only a matter of time before it stops working.”
possessed – controlled by an evil spirit or a magical force, “In the scary movie, the old doll was possessed and moved by itself.”
much-vaunted – praised or talked about a lot as something excellent, sometimes too much, “The phone’s much-vaunted new camera was actually quite normal.”
next iteration – the next or updated version of a product or plan, “The company is testing the next iteration of its video game.”
seamless – smooth, perfect, and without any problems or pauses, “Moving from the old office to the new one was a seamless change.”
populated – filled with people, animals, or objects, “The small island is populated by thousands of birds.”
harvest your most intimate data – to collect your most private or personal information, “Apps sometimes harvest your most intimate data to sell you ads.”
focus group – a small group of people who are asked for their opinions about a product, “The company invited a focus group to test the new snack flavor.”
real-time information – data or facts that are delivered immediately as they happen, “The map app gives real-time information about traffic jams.”
market research – gathering information about what people want to buy, “They did market research to see if people would buy a purple car.”
domestic chores – regular, everyday jobs done to keep a house clean and running, “My brother and I share the domestic chores like washing dishes.”