Making friends with Big Brother?

"Ambient intelligence" will become a network of hidden intelligent interfaces that recognise our presence and mould our environment to our immediate needs

Much has been made of the intrusion of computer technology in our lives. This should come as no surprise for, after all, one of the most potent symbols of George Orwell's police state in his novel "1984" was that of the telescreen. Although it was identified with the passive nature of television, the fact that Internet communications is interactive has naturally led many to identify telescreens with that of the computer monitor.

There is no doubt recent advances in information and communication technologies have had a major impact on the way we live, work and interact with each other. Yet if computer technology of the present has raised some concern over privacy, that of the future should lead us to near panic. Research into "ambient intelligence", a network of hidden intelligent interfaces that recognise our presence and mould our environment to our immediate needs, could bring about an even more radical change.

Ambient intelligence refers to an electronic environment that is sensitive, adaptive, and responsive to the presence of people. In practical terms this means we will be surrounded by intelligent interfaces embedded in everyday objects such as furniture, clothes, vehicles and roads. As we move through our environment, these interfaces register our presence, automatically carry out certain tasks based on given criteria, and learn from our behaviour in order to anticipate our needs.

While this may sound like the stuff of science fiction, some serious effort has been put into making it a reality. For the past three years, a project on collaborative sensing has been undertaken by scientists and researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (or PARC) in Silicon Valley. According to Feng Zhao, a senior researcher of the project at PARC, ambient intelligence technology is a key element in the post-internet revolution.

We are already surrounded by sensors -- devices ranging from the most basic thermostats, to sensors in cars which monitor everything from fuel consumption to vibrations. All of these capture physical information about their immediate space. But they can only do so much. Hence, they are often referred to as "dumb" sensors, in that they don't have onboard processing and don't network with each other.

The sensors of the future, however, known as "smart" sensors, are expected to wirelessly connect with similar sensors in their environment in a so-called "sensor network", or sensornet. Unlike their "dumb" counterparts, they would also contain a computer chip in order to process incoming information.

Supporters of the technology see the potential applications for smart sensors as wide-ranging. For example, smart sensors on roads could maketravel safer and highways less congested by noting accidents, potholes and alternate routes. It could then relay the information to a car's global positioning system. What's more, the sheer volume of information able to be collected means a more powerful ability to make predictions, even on a seemingly mundane level.

Some of the settings to incorporate this new technology have already taken shape in so-called "smart houses". Philips Research, the R&D armof one of the world's largest electronic companies, has developed the first prototypes of an ambient intelligent home system.

Although much progress has already been made, it will be some time before the networked vision of collaborating sensors actually takesshape. Feng Zhao predicts that in 5-10 years from now sensors will be ubiquitous, and will be everywhere including refrigerators, microwaves, garden fences, and car tires. This is how a European Commission report imagines the use of ambient intelligence:

While projections of a brave new world based on the use of smart sensors and ambient intelligence abound, the optimism about the technology and its applications are divorced from social reality. The premise is that the technology will help us to live a better life because of their ability to detect a lot of interesting things we can't -- or don't have the capacity -- to focus on. Yet they are also intrusive. Like all technology, it can have beneficial uses; however, more often than not, they are mainly developed and employed for reasons not so benign.

Politically, full acceptance of the technology is primarily focused on the economic benefits it supposedly would bring, with only scant consideration given to possible abuses. In Europe, members of the Information Society Technologies Advisory Group (ISTAG) have been making consistent efforts to not only demonstrate how such technology can impact our lives, but to promote key developments in the field so that it will lead to "positive" scenarios, such as the one described earlier.

To this extent, the ISTAG has identified three major factors that will determine the successful implementation of ambient intelligence. The first is that it must facilitate human contact rather than replace it. The second is its impact on business practices, in that companies will need to create complex partnerships and adopt radical new business plans. The third is the need for significant, long-term focused research.

Along these lines, security and trust technologies -- privacy, safety and dependability -- are seen as "naturally important" aspects to the future of technological development. Yet for those concerned with the preservation of democracy, decency, and human rights, the fact that such concerns are "naturally important" is not enough; security and trust technologies must be seen as a crucial factor in the future development -- and deployment -- of smart sensors and ambient intelligence technologies.

If the pundits are correct as to the future course of research and technological development, we may be in store for a nightmare. Unfortunately, in much the same way most of us have voluntarily accepted the intrusion of big brother into our lives, either through fear or ignorance, our total loss of privacy will most likely come about through peaceful capitulation rather than brute force.

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