BBC News - Internet of things: Should you worry if your jeans go smart?
More and more objects are getting on the webWhat if those new jeans you've just bought start tweeting about your location as you cross London Bridge?
It sounds far-fetched, but it's possible - if one of your garments is equipped with a tiny radio-frequency identification device (RFID), your location could be revealed without you knowing about it.
RFIDs are chips that use radio waves to send data to a reader - which in turn can [...]
The technology is there. Barring a disaster (of any kind) of catastrophic proportions, it will remain and someone will utilize it. The more people who put it into use, the wider our understanding of it will be as the government decides (or, ideally, we decide) how they'll utilize it. One place I think it ought to be instituted immediately is in letting constituents have the ability to access real-time data at any time a politician is on the clock or using the government's dime as to what they're doing, what they're saying, and how their actions are likely to affect them personally. (One of my favorite things about Obama, and something people used to love but now hate about him, is that he utilizes as much social media as he possibly can, tries to put out there as much of his process as he can without compromising national security in today's climate.) It would also be useful to consumers, or at least shareholders, when it comes to the executives of the companies they're thinking of patronizing or backing. When the people getting paid to make the place run are on the company's dime or spending it's dollar, they ought to be accountable to the people they're representing and for whom they're making business decisions. Their own time is their own time like anyone else's, but where they're willing (for government it ought to be mandatory; we are their employers) it would be good for executives to put themselves under more scrutiny since it's so easy now. If they're doin' the best they know how, what do they have to hide? I don't care what they're doin' in their bedroom, or in their kitchens, or in their living rooms (unless they don't mind sharin'), but what they're doin' when they're at work, when their decisions affect other people's lives, is the business of the people they affect.
By the same token, we'd do well to realize that when we can see and hear everything we won't like everything we see and hear. We'll need to learn to focus on what's being done right, support that, and shun the rest until it's ineffectiveness leaves it withered and dead. We'll need to allow that maybe people make mistakes, maybe some people make lots of mistakes, and weigh that against what they do right and whether they come out on the positive side of the balance. We'll have to stop judging them so harshly, and that will only come when we stop judging ourselves that way. Like, hey, just accept that your butt looks great in those bugged jeans and let Wal-Mart track it to every hot club in town, show 'em where fashion is made, baby! :D :)
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