The Impact Of Smart Sensor Networks On Privacy And Security

Impact on Different Groups of People

Discuss about the Privacy and Security Reflection for Smart Sensors.

The entire country will be impacted by the decision made by the country to install the surveillance tools and techniques throughout the country in the process of developing a smart sensor network. however, some specific groups of people are there who will be impacted by the privacy concerns of the discussed Smart sensing networks. The commoners are the ones who will be influenced by the discussed implementation and it is evident by a research study published by the Journal & mass Communication Quarterly in 2016 (Turner, 2016). The study was conducted on US citizens, however, they could be taken as reference to discuss about the Australian citizens. Based on the research, it can be stated that the monitored citizens oppress their feelings and this influence their general behaviour (Stoycheff, 2016). Additionally, the creative people such as writers, artists and others also restricts themselves from expressing their creativity because they believe they may come under surveillance. It may also influence the social activists and the politicians who are not in power. The surveillance will also enable those in power to analyse the personality of the citizens and capable of influencing the personality of the voters as is evident from Facebook Cambridge Analytica case (Boghosian, 2013). Some people are even considering the mass surveillance as the death of democracy (Gürses, Kundnani & Van Hoboken, 2016).

The discussion above can be taken as base for the behavioural change among those who will be under surveillance. The change in behaviour can be witnessed by the creative people who stop pouring their thoughts on the paper or canvas and similar other forms due to fear of gaining attention (Okika, Adum & Ekwugha, 2015). Though, it may also have certain positive influence as the people will abide by the law and will also hesitate from any unethical or illegal activity due to the cameras over their heads. However, it cannot be taken as the only impact as the people will lose their freedom and ultimately will lose their creativity, innovative and other crucial needs that would ultimately build a future for the country. Hence, privacy has also been considered as a basic right for the citizens and when it is influenced the people lose the crucial skills that are necessary for a countries development.

There will be behavioural changes for the citizens and it will be affected on their daily activities. The activities that they used to do before the installation of the smart sensors may not be part of their surveillance life. The activities that they used to do for fun such as smoking or chasing their friends or getting flirty with someone and other similar activities are the ones that will be greatly influenced. They will restrict themselves from opening up and exploring new approaches (Mahata & Phadikar, 2017). The discussed measures will also introduce discipline in their life as due to the presence of smart network, the people will come at time to catch the buses, use rubbish bins and abide by the traffic rules which is healthy in nature. However, one of the most crucial issues that can greatly affect the privacy and security is the trespassing of the discussed proposal If any cyber malefactor gains access to the network servers that can use it to fulfil their personal agendas or even create a country wise chaos which is undesirable. 

Impact of Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

Wifi hotspots are one of the most disruptive technologies and is still in need of a lot of improvements to ensure the security and privacy challenges. The technology affectionate people will be the ones who will be affected by the deemed proposal. The reason associated with the above stated statement lays base on the fact that those who are technology affectionate they will enjoy the free wifi and that too at a greater speed. However, it cannot be stated that the technology affectionate people are also do’s and don’ts of using public wifi to keep themselves safe and secure. In case of trespassing of the Wi-Fi server the security and privacy of the discussed subjects may get compromised (Acker & Bowler, 2017). The threat of privacy and security is not limited to the technology affectionate people but will also affect the people who accesses the network be it technology friendly or not.

Additionally, the free internet through the discussed hotspot may also be influence the personality of an individual. The reason for that lays base on the fact that the young generation may use them to access certain websites and contents that may be inappropriate for their age and will influence their personality in the long run. Due to availability of free internet access the people may also gather certain information that are not ethical and legal in nature and that too on their mobile devices (Burger et al., 2015). The contents in discussion may influence nature and in dire situations they may use their knowledge to conduct some unethical and criminalised activities.

The free wifi hotspots will certainly influence on the individual behaviours because, the individuals will schedule their time according to the wifi network strength. Most of the people will schedule their plans such that the wifi is at its fastest or they can spend their time at places where the strength of the hotspot internet is at its maximum (Sombatruang, Sasse, & Baddeley, 2016). Their activities may also differ as the people will starts to enjoy street foods so that they can access the free wifi which will change their diet and ultimately shape their body and personality. Choices of activities will also be influenced as the people will select activities that can be done at the places with high wifi intensity or can be benefitted by the hotspots. The activities such as spending more time with the mobile or start playing or watching football, wrestling and others because the wifi hotspot is available near a coaching centre or a playground. Similarly, many changes may be noticed in an individual’s behaviour.

Digital Identities and their Impact on Privacy and Security

Most of the wifi’s of a mobile gains access to the phone calls, text messages and even accessing data and others which might prove to be crucial for the individuals who wants to restrict their data to themselves (Golbeck, 2017). Another notable problem is that most of the wifi users does not read or brainstorm before granting permission while connecting to a wifi station or app installation, in the process give authority to the hotspot server to access their information risking their privacy and security. Hence, it is advisable for those who does not wants to share their data that they should either keep that data encrypted and locked or should not connect to the discussed hotspots (Gai et al., 2016).

One of the prominent steps in the process of making Australia a smart nation is providing digital identities to the citizens. The digital identity in discussion is an identity that takes account of all the social media description along with other identities that are offered by the government for the identification of an individual that are governed by the mobile SIM (which is unique for everyone) (Smith, 2018). The roll out of such plan will greatly assist in maintaining the privacy as without revealing their identities the users can access the government benefits through their mobile and other similar devices (Banerjee, 2018). They will not have to physically be present at the location of their work. The work will include the myGov services, digital mailboxes, online banking, state government services, taxing and others. The individuals carrying the digital identity will also gain ease of avoiding worries and complications that are associated with carrying IDs cards (Wilson, Moustafa & Sitnikova, 2018).

However, the challenges are also there due to the use of the digital identities (Mellmer et al., 2014). The threat of privacy is one of the most prominent of them. The reason associated with the former statement lays base on the fact that if the server that is authorised by the users to access their digital identities is compromised than the privacy of the user will be at risk. Additionally, if the user is at a state capital and if they access their digital identity their privacy will be at greater threat because the political activities in the capital is at its peak and it is also at greater threat from external attacks. To prevent the attacks, the officials generally monitor the outsiders (those who are travelling the capital of state) and digital identities will make it simpler for the security agents risking the privacy (Bouzis, 2015). Hence, it can be stated that the privacy of the users of digital identities are at risk but will also benefit them if kept encrypted adequately.

Steps Towards Ensuring Privacy and Security

The following steps could be taken to ensure the privacy and security of the digital identities while operating on the mobile devices.

• The first step would be to ensure that the password assigned to authenticate digital identity is strong. The deemed step can be achieved by making the password that compromises of capital letters, small letters, numbers and special characters (Piš?evi?, 2016). The advantage of the discussed measure is that it will make trespassing a tough job, however, a complex password is also tough to remember which can cite problems for the users.
• Another one of the measures is to have a two-step authentication process where after initialising the password an OTP (One-time password) or a security question or other similar measures (Kiljan et al., 2017). The advantage of the discussed measure is that it will ensure that even if anyone else is accessing the digital identity of the user they cannot complete the process without the user’s mobile accessibility or having a deep knowledge about the user. However, the disadvantage of complicacy in login is also associated because, if the network of the mobile is unstable than the OTP or other similar numbers can take time to come and in the event expiring the login time. Then, the user will have to restart the process or in case of inaccessibility to mobile may even restrict the accessing of the desired services (Fonseca 2017).
• Keep the device associated with the digital identity safe and inaccessible for others. It will ensure that no one can access the digital identity of user. However, it is very difficult to keep the devices inaccessible to others because the friends and family may demand it and in the process risking the security (Holt & Mal?i?, 2015). 

References

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