Home Automation taken a little too far ...

The BBC has a story on LG's view of an automated home of the future except they've actually built it. The story, called "Smart homes a reality in S Korea" details a technology rich apartment where there's a central panel that can control the technology. It goes on, briefly, to describe power line technology where control, data, voice, video and Internet services are delivered via the homes power lines. The appliances are all HomeNet compatible and how you can control your air quality, looks who is at the front door, check your power and even access everything remotely. It also goes on to say that you'll wear a PC on your wrist that can be tracked around the home and open and close doors for you. It will even help you select what to wear and tell you what clothes need to be washed. There goes a bachelors wardrobe. :-)

While I like playing with technology I don't like the idea of wea ring a PC and being tracked. If it can be used at home it can also be used to track you everywhere. Remote access to everything also makes me a bit nervous. A normal human being has enough trouble with keeping their personal information secure (and it seems a great many don't do it well enough). With the advent of more and more RFI technology our personal information will just be public information. While I like the idea of home automation I don't like the idea of technology being used to invade my personal life. Yes, I sound like a Luddite and I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories but more control is being given to others and less to me. I have no idea if I can trust others but if they're corporations then I know I can't. Corporations are not interested in me they're interested in my money and ways to earn more money off of me. Once they have the information they view it as their's not as mine. So I can't trust them them as they haven't earned my trust and don't have my interests as part of their interests. Personal automation, control and monitoring when taken away from the person is taking things a bit too far. That's when the technology is taken too far. We need some kind of a gatekeeper to control what's being done with all this information.