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Microsoft Backs Open Source For the Internet of Things
dcblogs writes Microsoft has joined a Linux Foundation effort to create an open platform for the Internet of Things. The AllSeen Alliance is an effort to standardize device communications. The code that it champions, called AllJoyn, was initially developed by Qualcomm but was subsequently made open source. Big vendors have been recruited to support it, and the AllSeen Alliance now includes LG, Panasonic, Sharp and Haier, among others. Its Xbox gaming platform is seen as a potential hub or control center for home devices. Microsoft's leadership in computing "and its significant Xbox business make it a potentially important contributor to the AllSeen ecosystem," said said Andy Castonguay, an analyst at Machina Research, a Reading, England-based research firm focusing on machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things.
"M$" makes you sound like some sort of drooling loon.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Everything about the IoT is a bad idea, especially when it comes to security on old devices. Now there's a consortium to open-source some of the code? Even better--for those who want to cause harm.
Right now, most household appliances (refrigerators, stoves, thermostats, home automation, home security, etc.) are devices that are closed off. So, even though my stove may have a security hole, I might not be able to exploit it without using a JTAG. Ultimately, there's no easy way to exploit them unless you have physical access to the internals of the appliance. But the IoT changes that--and not for the better. To add, many of the devices you'd want to connect to the IoT have lifespans of decades. So, unless we get government action saying that "if you want to make an IoT device, you have to provide security support for 20+ years", we'll end up with pwned thermostats that we can't change, the fridge that now sends spam & doesn't have enough available processing power to turn on the compressor, or that my TV now shows popup ads for hookers, offshore pharmacies selling Viagra, and other ads in front of the kids & I can't shut it off. And all the better when the pwned IoT fridge wants to talk to my non-pwned IoT Smart TV. On top of that, it won't help that the Linux kernel (or Apache, PHP, MySQL, drivers, etc.) it's running on is 20 years old & nobody--except malware authors--has looked at that version for over a decade...
What an obvious clusterfuck waiting to happen... I'm just waiting for a group of early Smart TVs to get bricked because some malware does something to them--and the manufacturer says "not our problem--it's old!" Then people might realize what a Pandora's Box this is...
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
"M$" makes you sound like some sort of drooling loon.
Complaining about a common nickname for a despised organisation makes you seem like a paid social media management sockpuppet trying to change public perceptions.
I tend to agree with you but not to the paranoid extent you are taking it.
More to the point, I can see this being touted for home security (being able to enable / disable security systems from your phone, turn on and off lights, etc.) but that won't take off until they can guarantee the security of the Internet (which is something no company can do). As we all know, anything exposed to the Internet is just that... Exposed! To think it won't get exploited is putting your head in the sand.
Besides, for any of that stuff you don't need it exposed to the internet. Just a local network that blocks all devices that haven't been programmed into the router. That way when you lock yourself out of your house you can unlock the doors with your phone while you are standing outside. Who in their right mind would want to unlock their doors when they are on vacation?
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
Fax machines were invented in the 1930's, they didn't really take off until the 1980's. The reason being that before the 1980's there was no comms standard for fax machines, if you wanted to send a fax the other person had to have the same brand of machine for it to work. This meant business could have an internal fax system but it was useless for interfacing with any external entity.
It's also somewhat paradoxical that without the "bad idea" of TCP-IP we wouldn't be having this conversation. I really don't understand the slashdot paranoia, nobody is forcing you to put these gimmicks in your home, and governments/corporations can already crush you like a grape today if they so desired. So even if your every movement was forcibly broadcast live around the planet, I can't see how you have anything to lose other than your dignity.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I tend to agree with you but not to the paranoid extent you are taking it.
More to the point, I can see this being touted for home security (being able to enable / disable security systems from your phone, turn on and off lights, etc.) but that won't take off until they can guarantee the security of the Internet (which is something no company can do).
When I think of the internet of things, I think of those home security systems from Comcast, where the happy smiling mother breaths a sigh of relief that she just saw her children get home from school. Life is good.
Wait until people see how this backfires. For those old enough to remember when only the wealthy had cell phones, there was a time whne we could envision being out of touch for a while. Hell, that was the only way I got Sundays off, by hopping in the car to not be reachable by phone. Fast forward to today. I've seen people drop into a cold sweat when their phones show no bars. "What if someone needs to get hold of me? Jesus, can't you take a route that has towers along the whole route?" Even me, if I forget my phone now, the wife freaks out.
Now imagine that happy smiling woman (for some sexist reason they always use women in these commercials) who after a few days of seeing that her children are at home, suddenly starts becoming concerned if something might happen to the house when she isn't looking. What if a fire breaks out, or someone breaks into the house while the children are home? So just like cell phones which are now a permanent fixture of the generation that never looked up, we will have home security addicts, afraid to ever look away from their screen. Maybe even demanding another screen at work so they never have the home out of site.
Soon the only time they won't be anxiously monitoring their house will be when they are there. Soon, no more happy smiling parents, just anxious nervous wrecks who can't even check facebook any more, lest something happen while they aren't' looking.
And just wait until some smartass rebellious teenager comes home, is pissed off because mommy is monitoring, and decides to moon or flash the camera. Instant kiddie pr0n! broadcast right to the cubicle. Oh, boy, the boss is mad at the unsmiling miserable woman.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
1. Embrace <-- you are here
2. Extend
3. Extinguish
Why is this modded insightful? Using "M$" and other such derogatory acronyms was fine when you were 12, but people come to Slashdot for (hopefully) enlightening discussion. Using "M$" is like swearing in a debate, it makes you completely out of place.
Regardless of whether bADlOGIN was trolling, he is actually completely right.
Consider this article, referenced by the source. It says insurers might like to provide home automation and other "internet of things" devices for free. It mentions the "Teen Safe Driver Program" as an example of how this "free as in beer" program could work. So how does that program work? A black box in your car records events, sends it to the insurance company, and AFTER the insurance company reviews it, the parents might be given a copy of the data. That's right, the insurance company injects itself between parent and child, taking over the parent's job. Naturally, they have their own motivations which are separate from the proper parenting of children. This is espionage.
Now MS and insurance companies want to do the same for your home? That is prison.
Microsoft has been interested in home computing for decades with little to show for it beyond the X-Box. The main problem is that there is little in a home that needs to be computerized/automated/networked that hasn't already been from the beginning. A washing machine was a great automation, but there is no real need to automate it further. Have your lights turn on automatically when you come home? Nifty trick, but no one cares really. The only killer-app for home automation is spying on the residents and that is not desirable by the residents. Do they expect us to let insurance companies and other wealthy interests spy on us 24-7 in exchange for "free as in beer" worthless gadgets? To sweeten the bait they may attempt to find gadgets that are more useful. But those are just a trap.
Also, keep in mind the security of the devices. When the makers' intention is to spy on the users, there is little motivation to keep the device secure from even more spying. OpenSSL showed how a monoculture is insecure even if it is open source. Open standards with independent implementations provide security through diversity.