Internet Of Things: Bringing Anti-theft Solutions?

6

October

2018

5/5 (2)

In modern times which are characterized by rapid and intense rhythms, people are often feeling exposed when it comes to the security of their personal belongings. Especially when one is carrying many valuable things in a personal bag, it is pretty disturbing to always think about the possibility of theft or pickpocketing. Uncertainty for the security of personal belongings has never been bigger, especially for people living in big cities. Internet of Things (IoT), can probably soften this uncertainty, as it can help with building applications, devices or even transforming existing belongings to “smart” anti-theft solutions. IoT by definition, is the creation of physical devices that are connected to the internet, while collecting and also sharing data (Ranger, 2018). Possible implications of IoT solutions that can ease out the burden of possible theft are the following:

Zipper Fingerprint Detector

A fingerprint detector device can be placed on the zipper of the personal bag, and thus secure its opening. The zipper will be released only if the fingerprint trying to open up the personal bag is valid. The system will be activated again after the bag is closed. Such a simple addition is quite important for arising a feeling of security, as opening the zipper is a difficult to almost impossible process for someone whose fingerprint is not recognized.

RFID Receiver and RFID Tags

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is the use of radio waves to read and capture information stored on the RFID tag that can be attached to a preferable object. A tag can be read from up to several feet away and does not need to be within direct line-of-sight of the reader in order to be tracked (EPC-RFID, 2018). Placing an RFID receiver in the personal bag can quickly help with the recognition and notification for a possible theft. The RFID receiver, after the user has placed RFID tags to the desirable items, will recognize if these items are placed or are missing from the personal bag. With the help of a mobile application, the user can set the preferable items being tracked, and then can be notified when one or more of them is missing when the RFID receiver tracks non-stop and real-time.

Location Tracker

With the help of the location tracker, the user can instantly and accurately identify the location of the personal bag. This can be beneficial mainly in the case of theft. The person will be able to know immediately the direction of the personal bag and hence can easily find the way towards getting it back, while at the same time can notify the authorities as well.

The above are only some of the implications that can actually transform a normal personal bag to an IoT device, giving it a “smart” identity. Do you think there are also other ways that someone can protect his personal belongings with the help of IoT?

References:

  • EPC-RFID. (2018). What is RFID? – EPC-RFID. [online] Available at: https://www.epc-rfid.info/rfid [Accessed 6 Oct. 2018].
  • Ranger, S. (2018). What is the IoT? Everything you need to know about the Internet of Things right now | ZDNet. [online] ZDNet. Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-the-internet-of-things-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-iot-right-now/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2018].

Please rate this

GDPR and AI: A story of love or hate?

13

September

2018

No ratings yet.

The Past

On the 25th of May 2018 a significant change has marked the EU’s business world. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, with the goal of empowering customers’ data privacy and protection throughout all stages of the data’s collection, storage, processing and transfer.

Short video on GDPR explanation:

Many companies in order to reach GDPR compliance, had to make significant changes to their processes, especially the ones that concern data, otherwise they would have to pay extravagant fines that could easily lead them to bankruptcy.

The Present

At the same time, with personalised conversations and relevance being the need of the hour, AI and disruptive innovation on most businesses handling personal data inevitably go hand in hand.

The majority of the aforementioned data are used to empower the newly introduced businesses’ AI algorithms: the more data available, the better an algorithm’s predictions (Coles, 2018). These companies currently struggle with the changes they need to perform and are “loosening” their tight knots with the AI implementation. They need to concentrate on what needs to change, how does it need to change and, naturally, will their offering still be effective and/or useful after shifting to a more GDPR compliant technology?

The Future

Although GDPR compliance may seem a great burden to most of the companies which have adopted AI technologies to their functions, we cannot ignore the benefits that can occur. Machine learning could be used to reduce the number of fraudulent behaviours, while tracing and confronting those can be a lot easier (Coles, 2018). The company may as well choose to build AI-powered tools that can notify all stakeholders in case of unauthorized access to their data.

Also, companies can plan strategically and deploy AI technologies in order to create what is needed for their GDPR compliance. In that way, they can easily keep their processes untouched while using AI to prove their processes as safe and protective (Nguyen, 2018).

Depending on the above and your personal insights, would you consider this relationship as love, hate or both?

References:

Please rate this