IoT’s current failures are also an opportunity. Beyond the absurdity of overly chatty microwaves, plugging the physical world directly into extractive (and often tenuous) business models has raised public awareness of the shortcomings of how we currently build digital infrastructure. Whether it’s a bike that stops working when its manufacturer goes bankrupt, or a home appliance with unclear allegiances, it has created real harms from exfiltration of personal data, and unnecessarily reducing the lifespan or increasing fragility of devices we depend on as part of daily life.
Overly chatty microwaves, and home appliances with unclear allegiances - there are so many quotable bits in this post!