Run For Cover

November 22, 2018 11:47 AM

A pair of electrical engineering and computer science faculty members in the Case School of Engineering have been experimenting with a new suite of sensors. This system would read not only the vibrations, sounds—and even the specific gait, or other movements—associated with people and animals in a building, but also any subtle changes in the existing ambient electrical field. "We are trying to make a building that is able to ‘listen’ to the humans inside.” The Internet of Ears.

The initial 3-page paper: "An “Internet of Ears” for crowd-aware smart buildings based on sparse sensor networks".

posted by cashman (17 comments total)

Serious question: did the internet of things actually ever take off? It seems like a bunch of people bought Alexas for their aunts and then everyone promptly turned them off.

Half serious question: we're all still afraid of this crap, right? It's just 1984 + Brazil?
posted by es_de_bah at 11:49 AM on November 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

We're all so busily pouring fermented dinosaurs into our cars, fighting wind power generators because they steal the breeze and not building solar collectors for no apparent reason. How could this be important enough to pursue?
posted by humboldt32 at 12:17 PM on November 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yay. More surveillance. Great.
posted by sexyrobot at 12:22 PM on November 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

There is for sure an Internet of connected instrumentation - every science lab and medical facility has them, and connected HVAC (and other commercial building sensors) continues to be a security hole. I don't know what the home uptake has been.
posted by Mogur at 12:22 PM on November 22, 2018

Serious question: did the internet of things actually ever take off?

From my brief stint in the (ugh) telecom industry, I gathered that the internet of things is just getting started. Pretty much all the new telco technology is explicitly intended to facilitate IoT. Anything written in a trade magazine about 5G refers to its necessity “once IoT ramps up.” And so on.

Also holy shit do I not want a building that can monitor my every movement. Did nobody see that X-Files episode?
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:25 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Well, there's a few billion of us. Some people can pull carbon out of the ground and put it in the sky, other people can endorse and embrace white supremacy, and other people can build even more kinds of surveillance to enable the perfect totalitarian state! Isn't multitasking great?
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:36 PM on November 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Can we start crowdfunding the wearable tech to block this now?

maybe I'll just stay home ... forever.
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 1:00 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

You know that knowing where the people are means buildings can adjust their systems to make more efficient use of energy, right? Not everything is inherently terrible.
posted by wierdo at 1:01 PM on November 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

Walk without rhythm
posted by salt grass at 1:13 PM on November 22, 2018 [7 favorites]

Not everything is inherently terrible.

this tech probably is, tho, in that its most obvious uses will appeal to shitty people furthering their shitty purposes -- like employers tracking their employees' every movement
posted by halation at 1:14 PM on November 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

Internet of Elves on Shelves meets Internet of Ceiling Cats
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:27 PM on November 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Can we start crowdfunding the wearable tech to block this now?

I've been wanting to sell Faraday hoodies, Faraday ponchos, Faraday jumpsuits, you name it. Seems like now is the time; MeMail me your preorders!

(Mostly kidding, but I do have another tab open w/fabrics right now.)
posted by BrunoLatourFanclub at 1:32 PM on November 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Faraday jumpsuits

this is literally everything i want in a daily wardrobe
posted by halation at 1:34 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP DOING THIS?
posted by rodlymight at 2:10 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've been wanting to sell Faraday hoodies, Faraday ponchos, Faraday jumpsuits, you name it. Seems like now is the time; MeMail me your preorders!

Sorry, but clothing like this will not defeat these kinds of sensors. They'll only keep them from reading the transponders you already have implanted in your bodies.
posted by 2N2222 at 2:13 PM on November 22, 2018

Why go through the effort of implanting them when people voluntarily carry them in their phones, wallets and watches? Once you’ve grabbed a device’s MAC id, you can follow its carrier all over your property.
posted by ardgedee at 4:04 PM on November 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Serious question: did the internet of things actually ever take off?

Yep, and it's approaching cruising altitude. You're not hearing about it as much because it's at the point in its "hype cycle" where the next steps are obvious and not newsworthy. Everything in the future is simply assumed to be connected.

As just one example among possible thousands, new vehicles have 100+ sensors and 100+ microprocessors/microcontrollers, and those numbers will multiply as autonomous driving takes hold. Ford has announced that future profits will come in part from data it collects from its 100 million customers.
posted by ArmandoAkimbo at 7:59 PM on November 23, 2018 [2 favorites]