Westley Augustus Gomez

April 9, 2015
CAMS 1301-07
Specific Purpose: To encourage people to think about the rising concern of
interconnectivity with all the technology in the world and to people to take
an active part in shaping it.
Organizational Pattern: Topical Pattern
Intended Audience: CAMS 1301
1. Introduction
a. Attention Getting Device: Does anyone know how many devices
in their possession are connected to other devices? How many
have heard of the Internet of Things?
i. Now question the next question I must ask you. How safe
do you feel?
b. Orientation Phase
i. Thesis: The task I decided to take up is to inform/persuade
you on making the right decision in terms understanding
why it is important for you to take an active role in shaping
how the internet and the evolution of smart things.
ii. Adaptation: I am hoping that you will make right decision
from just from being idle to actually being a participant in
this.
iii. My major for lack of better words is a Jack-of-All trades, so
it allows me to study a wide variety of fields and also some
basic programming classes. I am not the brightest when
comes to computer use and design but if I can find a way
to get through a system imagine someone more capable.
iv. Enumerated Preview: What I am going to talk about is this
concept of Internet of things and what each party that are
either on the forefront of Cyber security or are in denial of
the greater danger interconnectivity.
How many have heard of the Internet of Things?
2. Well for those that do not know. The Internet of Things - as given by
Neil Greshenfeld in Scientific American- are objects, animals or people
are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data

over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-tocomputer interaction. Sounds fun right, an easier way of life right
a. Smart devices that can record every bit and byte of information
providing valuable information for everyone and I mean
everyone.
b. With that note. Imagine your smart chair. Yes, smart chair, it
records your weight how you sit what is your vitals and
everything. Do you know where the data goes?
i. It goes into the cloud? A vast network data roughly
estimated by Computer Weekly, 4 Exobytes (the equivalent
of millions of gigabytes)
ii. Why yes it does. But that information no matter what is not
secure in the slightest.
iii. It just takes a clever man to go in either physically or
digitally and get the data, and that is not first. Your
insurance agencies have the information and they can use
that to increase your premium. Your life is no longer yours
to have.
Transition: Now in order to this to take a step further. All of you possess a
computer and more than likely you have a camera on it. Either that or your
Phone. Now hackers can easily hack into it software and make it to where
they can watch your every move. This is not limited to PCs by the way.
3. There is a short indie film called Webcam in which we watch over the
course of a seven minute video a person being watched by unknown
person/persons unknown. That is just a hacker doing spying for
possible blackmail or just being a perv. However, the more connected
we get the less private our lives will become.
a. Imagine everyone knowing what you are doing right at this very
moment as a base.
b. Even worse imagine your car was hacked because you decided
to buy a smart car. Congrats you are no longer in control and
drive off a cliff. Or it tells the authorities you speeded through a
certain area and you get a ticket.
Transition: Now how do we actually ensure the safety of populace as a whole.
4. Some like Keren Elazar, a member of the Israeli Cyber Security Council,
come flat out and said that the internet is to vast and amount of data
is too much for any government and storage company to keep secure.

a. While the White House said in a press briefing during the time
2012 worm that attacked Irans nuclear facilities that the
government can handle any attacks that is presented.
i. Yet we see time and time again major companies even the
United States Government hacked and important
documents and information are lost to unknown parties
that wish us harm. Without proposing a solution other than
a vague set of directives given on the whitehouse.gov
page. And is doing the opposite to ensure cyber security
and funding part of the development of the internet of
things.
ii. Allowing them to collect more data on its populace.
b. However, in this months issue of Scientific American Keren
Elazar made a statement saying that securing cyberspace is
impossible without the help of hackers. That is right. It is a
better proposal that what our leaders have given us.
i. Why you ask? Because they are ones that work behind the
scenes developing software capable of combating
cyberattacks and are usually on the forefront of the fight
on either side. Wouldnt be smarter to fight fire with fire
instead of setting up another wall to be burned down only
5 minutes later by someone in Asia.
ii. This limits how much data goes out to everyone thus
keeping your privacy. It doesnt answer the question how
do we control what is connected or smart?
Transition: I know this topic has gone over the place from basic concepts to
dissenting opinions, but I ask you to just hang a little longer.
5. Conclusion:
a. As of right now we live in a time when technology runs our lives
and it depends on our actions now to decide where we draw the
line when it comes to privacy. Do we allow ourselves to be run
with big brother looking over our shoulder (that could be
represented as an AI, government entity, or by technocracy) or
do we say we can lives comfortable and draw the line at this is
too much.

Bibliography:

1. Elazari, Keren. "How to Survive Cyberwar." Sci Am Scientific American 312.4 (2015): 66-69.
2. Mohamed, Arif. "A History of Cloud Computing." ComputerWeekly.com. Computer Weekly,
13 Feb. 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.

3. Webcam. Dir. Branden Kramer. 2012. Indie Short Film

4. Gershenfeld, Neil, Raffi Krikorian, and Danny Cohen. "The Internet of Things." Sci Am
Scientific American 291.4 (2004): 76-81.
5. "The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative." The White House. The White House,
n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.

6. Greenemeier, Larry. "Hack My Ride." Sci Am Scientific American 304.6 (2011): 18.