drew wrote:Old Dad wrote:http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/10/would-you-sign-up-for-a-discount-with-your-power-company-in-exchange-for-surrendering-control-of-your-thermostat-what-if-it.html#postsNot in my opinion. What I see is a bunch of unreasonably paranoid chicken-littles screaming yet again that the sky is falling. And I say "again" because it's probably the same bunch that became so outraged when they were up in arms about consumer data being collected on individuals at grocery stores and other shopping places. So perhaps they learned which cereal I prefer for breakfast, or maybe how many gallons of milk I buy each month. Or the fact that I don't buy any wine or beer. Big deal - I honestly don't care who knows such things about me. On the other hand, if it helps them keep better track of restocking needs then I think that I - and everyone else - come out winners for it.
Same for my power usage. I figure it stays pretty flat except for when seasons change and I'm not worried about WHO might know that either. As for remotely controlling my thermostat or appliances, they can just forget it. I'm not letting them inside my house. I can take care of all those things just fine on my own.
And unlike some other areas of the country (California comes to mind) we don't have blackouts here, rolling or otherwise. Sure, we loose power sometimes during heavy storms, but who doesn't?
What do you think about all the hub-bub, Bud?
I agree completely. These companies aren't attempting to use personally identifiable information when they collect data from their customers...they're only trying to determine trends so they can adapt their services and market their products more effectively. Personally, I think there are some very useful possibilities that come about from this sort of thing.
For instance, my phone has the Google Android OS which uses Google maps. Have you heard of the concept of "crowdsourcing" when it comes to traffic conditions? I can use my phone to check on traffic conditions if I get stuck in traffic. And since my phone has a GPS in it, when I'm using it to view the traffic, the phone also sends my location and driving speed to update the traffic database, refining the information in real-time. You can imagine if there are enough people on the road using such a phone, you can get a very accurate picture of how the traffic is progressing without flying a helicopter or other means. This is potentially the fastest and most accurate way to tell what the traffic picture looks like.
You may have also heard about the robots that mine data on Twitter to detect significant events. It turns out that news travels faster on Twitter than any news agency, so if a computer can "notice" an increase in certain words or phrases being used all of a sudden by thousands of ordinary users, they can alert the public of breaking events faster than any other media.
None of this is "big brother"...it is just private industry using huge amounts of user data in interesting and creative ways. Granted, since the data is there, there's always the possibility of the government to abuse it, but it's certainly not a cause for concern in and of itself...I think it's a great thing.
For what it's worth, my power provider has a "summer discount plan", in which I give them permission to shut off the air conditioning if the energy demand reaches critical levels in exchange for a discount on my bill. As far as I'm aware, they don't track my air conditioning usage, they only have the capability of disabling my air conditioning (of course they already know my energy usage from the meter). They never entered my place...just installed a box on the outdoor air conditioning unit, and they have no visibility regarding what temperature my thermostat is set at (sloppy, 'alarmist' reporting to blame there). I've saved about 20% on my electric bill over the summer and my AC was never interrupted once.
Call me alarmist if you want, but my concern comes not from what "they" want to do with the information, but on how they protect it.
Take the case of your GPS. Used for tracking traffic, that is fine. However, just what exactly can be gleaned from that dataset.
We can get all of your personal information - the phone is unique to you, and your name, address, payment method, credit history, and call logs are all tied to that phone
We now also know where you are going and how fast you drive when you go there. We can also cross refrence times when your phone is moving at driving speeds and you are using the phone - including if it was a headset, speakerphone, or handheld mode.
We can determine things such as when you parked your car at the airport. Then we make a trip to your house.
Of course T-Mobile is not going to do the above with your data, but others might. And the fact is, data is either leaked, or somtimes given up freely, all to often for me to be comfortable.
The deatailed profile that somone can put together from various data sources is pretty amazing.
Think of it this way. If you were to keep a journal - a very detailed journal, including things like personal identification information, you would not entrust it to a stranger to keep private. But that is the very thing you are doing with the data that companies collect.
-dave
