Is the IoT acting in the Right Interest? - Netopia

A major concern for our rights as consumers is the way that machines direct us according to their interests and not ours. Experts such as Dr Jonathan Cave warn about the growing influence of software machines on our lives. Cave says that software machines will make use of what they know about us to present information to us which may not be to our advantage. Because the search engines that we have used know a certain amount about us and our previous buying decisions, they are keen to exploit that by turning us into a buyer of something, by a process known as'filter bubbles' – a feedback loop where recommendations only reinforce existing patterns. As Dr Rupp states'if you are not paying then you are not the customer'. Thus if you are not paying for an internet technology such as Google or Facebook it is not acting in your interests, but rather in the interests of the customers who are paying to present information to you.