Technology is all well and good but
when it follows you every step of the way, then it’s time to worry
People talk about big data and some even fret about
its dangers. It’s all very well but seems extremely abstract and remote.
Explain to me like I am an eight-year-old, please.
These days, I am more worried
about the seamless and endless collection of small – and very person-specific –
data.
My life insurance company has been
so nice as to give me a free wearable. It’s not an Apple Watch, but it will do.
The company promises to lower or at least maintain my current policy premium so
long as I wear it often enough for them to check my vital signs and exercise
routines – or the lack of them.
Soon the
company is going to know more about my health status than my family doctor –
blood pressure, heart rates, time and duration of physical exercise and who
knows what else.
I am beginning to think wearable
tech is not so benign, after all.
Meanwhile, I just brought a new
car and needed a new insurance policy.
The insurer charges quite a bit
but then promises to lower my premium from next year – not only with the usual
depreciation of the car’s value and if I make no accident claims.
It guarantees a much cheaper
policy next year if I would just join their new hi-tech programme – provided I
don’t crash my car, presumably. This involves putting a little tracking device
under the steering wheel.
Every week, I receive an email
telling me how many times I had put on the brake suddenly, accelerated
abruptly, and whether I had been driving during “the witching hours”, the time
of day, or rather night, when accidents are more statistically likely to occur.
It probably has a GPS to track everywhere I go, though it doesn’t tell you all
the things it tracks so as not to spook you too much.
Each year, there are now many
academic and popular forums around the world with themes like “quantify
yourself” or “know yourself”, usually about the new frontiers of wearables and
related technology. Sure, it’s nice to know exactly how many steps you take to
walk to your office, or how many calories you consume in each meal.
But wearables and similar tech are
beginning to be more like “know your every customer”.
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