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I recently wrote that the Semi community as a whole has to take into account what their creations can be used for and not blindly create ecosystems that can be dangerous or open to abuse by governments and others or our society could easily take some very bad turns for the worse. It's no longer enough to create technologies that create ecosystems of tremendous power and not design safeties into them at the most basic levels. The first I wrote on this was about traffic signs having the ability to create a big brother system and now this is about the Nest home system and others that can literally be taken over by anyone, even a loose amateur rap group as documented in the article below. Some security needs to be designed into systems at the semi level that provide an audit trail or other security measures to prevent abuse by non government organizations at the very least. The SemiWiki community has the knowledge that most others don't have to attack this problem and the time is now before it gets out of hand and create very, very serious disruption through abuse. Input on this from designers of these systems is the place to start.
The amateur rap crew paid a part-time employee of a debt collection agency to use the TLO system to steal the identities of rich people (Name, address, social security number, date of birth), then obtained loans in the stolen name. Police used the Nest systems installed at the thief's residence to gain information to arrest them, which makes total sense.
The issue here is that bribing people with access to personal information is difficult to detect or thwart, it's a social issue, not a technical one.
Dan, any thoughts about using a block chain system for access or continuous facial recognition or a combination semi/biometric key with tracking and memory? Also the issue is do we want the government to have access to the cameras and mikes in our homes, this is taking wiretapping to a whole new level, especially if they attach it to AI so they can monitor large numbers of people easily. That's a lot of power to trust anyone with. If I had a camera system with remote access, I would definitely want a warning notice or alarm if ANYONE had taken control of it.
Block chain is an over-hyped, narrow technology that will hopefully soon be forgotten, because we've had linked lists in computer science for decades now and nobody got excited about it at all, but then block chain coupled with bitcoin captured the imagination of the media and speculators and a bubble greater than Tulip Mania ensued.
Dan, giving governments to much power leads to serious problems. I'm a strict Constitutionalist and have seen the dangers of governments without restrictions, look at the massive damage of the alcohol, marijuana and prostitution prohibitions that police championed and caused far more crime and problems that they solved at a cost of literally trillions of dollars. We are the largest police state in the world with as many prisoners as China and Russia combined and they are police states. The lost human potential is staggering adding further to the cost, let alone the actual cost. Legal gangs, like medical in the US where we rank 37th in quality with by far the world's highest cost steal far more. I'm an economics guy and crime through political and regulatory corruption outweighs all other crime by a staggering amount. Our Constitution I feel is the greatest document ever written by man even over religious texts and I carry a copy with me. A system you describe belongs only in a police state. Only a good culture can create a safe state and our Constitution and Bill of Rights is the best foundation ever used. If it wasn't for the legal anti war protests we would still be in Viet Nam where eventually they solved their problems on their own. A low, cost high quality education system is the best answer for creating a superior culture and semis of all types will be the foundation to make this possible if government corruption is kept at bay. Most, if not all of education can be automated, even labs are now remotely available through robotics or virtual and are being used. Government and professional organizations are actually holding much progress back for their own interests. Currently we spend a fortune on education and our K-12 is not even rated in the top ten, even with massive costs. This is the real crime that isn't even covered under statutes. None of these dangers are even covered with massive, intrusive survelance. The real crime is white collar and computers help here very well as the SEC has proven in our financial markets. Anyone who gives up their rights will end up with a police/special interest state few benefit from and want to live in. We already spend far to much on military, police, medical and education because of entrenched special interests and have very poor results in each. Semis, nanotech and the platforms/ecosystems they create are the most powerful creations man has ever made and can be used for progress or special interests. Sadly, our government is getting worse and wealth is concentrating fast, which is the first sign of an empire starting to collapse as history has proven throughout the years. Most crime is financial and supported and practiced by the government itself. See for yourself. Barron's is behind a pay wall, but you should know someone with access.
