First things first – Please stop calling it IoT. It’s Internet of Things.

By 2020, 4.9 billion ‘Things’ will be connected and will be in use. That’s 4,900,000,000 Things! [1]

It’s a well-established fact that Internet of Things is the most hyped term right now [2]. But little do people know it has been here for a while. It was called M2M [3] or Machine to Machine communication. Still used in industries all over the world.

Now, with exponential growth of devices connected to the Internet, Internet of Things brings hope, concerns, fear, and skepticism. And it boils down to this – Is it all really worth? What about privacy? Or maybe, What about trust?

If you ask me, My answer is YES! It is worth it. But with trade-offs (in the short term future). In long term, we will all adapt to it like we have always. And it will be a normal part of life.

The Good

The best thing I like about Internet of Things is that it enables connectivity. It allows more ways and more things to be connected. Which is good. Imagine a world of connected machines. All of them sharing information and making intelligent decision on their own. Sounds like machines from Matrix or Terminator? I beg to differ.

An example could be, a city with cameras installed on major highways. And these cameras feeding videos/images to a centralized processing unit. This unit, processing all the data, understanding bottlenecks, accidents, etc. And rerouting traffic by sending routing information to traffic lights ( machines again ). I don’t see any evil in this.

The Bad

Now, a lot of people are concerned about Internet of Things. And one of the major question people ask is: “What about my Privacy?”

Well, If you are reading this article, it means you are online. Which means that you have already kissed your privacy goodbye! Little harsh? yes, but its true. If you are online, everyone knows about you. Specialists know about your bank accounts, passwords, social security numbers, etc. Heck, Target already knows that your daughter is pregnant [4].

Your privacy is already blown. Mine too. In my case, I care less. So, its all cool with me. You should also calm down. Like I said, we (Homo Sapiens) will adapt. We always have.

The Ugly

Honestly, I can’t find anything to classify it as ugly for Internet of Things. Few say that Skynet will become a reality. Well, I don’t know.

The Future

All the hype around Internet of Things is good. It’s making us explore more and create new ideas. But the actual benefit will not come from Internet of Things alone, It will come from technologies and platforms that will result from Internet of Things.

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