A billion transistors per human

7 May 2009 (John)

Soon a ubiquitous network of over a trillion devices including cell phones, computers, sensors and scanner nodes, will mesh together to start harvesting real-time data about us and the world we live in. This information, passed from connected machine to connected machine, will give the “super-connected” users of the network unprecedented ability to know, be known, share and communicate. This was the big picture that came out of last Wednesday’s “Sensible Sensors” meeting at KPMG Auckland. And we were told by IBM that, “this is the trajectory, and it WILL HAPPEN!”

You see, a rapid convergence is occurring between cell phone networks, the Internet, location tracking systems, portable devices, digital CCTV (video surveillance), RFID (Radio Frequency identification), and sensing devices that can monitor both the physical environment and biological systems. We only half know what this future will look like, but it’s not hard to imagine that the information empowerment will feel godlike; while the privacy implications have the potential to be hellish. Take a moment to consider that within the network will reside moment by moment information on where you are, video footage of you from surveillance areas, in some cases real-time data on your health, records of your buying and selling, your every technology based communication, and so on. And this information will not be transitory, but in all likelihood will be stored permanently! Actually, for those of us who use things like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Eft-Pos, credit cards, or who have a location aware cell phone, we’re part way to this future right now! As exists already, there will of course remain layers of security to protect much of this data, along with privacy policies galore. However, it is and will continue to be impossible to even know where all the copies of our data are, or who can access them. This concern is extended further when network security breaches and hacking are taken into account. A member of the audience talked about a server he’d monitored that was aggregating video feeds from CCTV systems, and what he discovered was that someone had put a “root kit” (hacker kit) on the server which was giving an unknown party continuous access to all its video footage.

I guess this was just the kind of thing the “Sensible Sensors” meeting was meant to address, since it was actually part of privacy awareness week. But, while these privacy issues were mentioned, they were overshadowed by people’s fascination with the wonder of things to come. It seems that this attitude towards privacy is common, with a number of statements to the effect that most people quickly “get over” their privacy concerns when there are appealing benefits. At a fundamental level, it was raised that an “Opt-in” approach to these technologies has already largely gone out the window, so that unless we very consciously opt-out, it seems we will be swept into this future by default.

During the opening session we were told that our world is becoming instrumented, that it is becoming interconnected and that all “things” are becoming intelligent. It’s both freaky and also has a sense of awe and excitement about it. After all, we want to be able to communicate, share our thoughts, access information, transact goods and services quickly, access entertainment and more. But there is a very dark side to all the wonder and amazement. It’s just possible that we’re on the verge of being utterly enslaved by the system we’ve created.

One particular technology, RFID chips, are a key enabler of this potential for total slavery. An RFID chip is about the size of a grain of rice and can be embedded in packaging, another device or even in your body. When it is scanned with a radio frequency it emits information about the “thing” it is attached to. If it was embedded in you this would be your identity, and that is the key. Just this one thing, your identity, is enough when combined with the power of the network to facilitate a quantum leap in managing the human race. With identity your location could be monitored as you enter into range of RFID scanners. With identity you could buy and sell electronically without plastic or pin numbers. You could also gain access to your home, your work, your car and your electronic information without the plethora of keys, swipe-cards, passwords and door codes we use today. With identity everything you’ve been granted access to could just open in front of you like a series of automatic doors. RFID’s will also enable immediate access to your medical records in situations where you cannot speak for yourself. They will in all likelihood eliminate queues and paperwork as trusted authorization for the flow of our data starts to go everywhere with us. With all of these benefits everyone will want one, but let’s stop for a moment and think about what would happen if your access was revoked. With one high-level command by police, immigration or some other government agency you could be locked out of everything. You could in effect be locked out of society and consigned to an underworld of people with no access, no money, no assets and nowhere to live. By virtue of your access being revoked, or not being on the system, suspicion would hang over you like a cloud. Whether used rightly or wrongly, the point is that membership of the system could become the ultimate leverage over every man, woman and child on earth. And this is not an out there scenario, the technology to do it exists now.

UPDATE June 25, 2009: Article out today says that all cell phones will come with RFID's by 2010 (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-315292.html. Cell phones are the stepping-stone for use of this technology before embedding directly in people.

Those of you with a critical mind may ask how an RFID could provide such secure identity. After all, even if medically embedded it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that people could remove or swap them. The secondary technology that could be poised to work alongside RFID identification is the ability to read our biometrics; usually fingerprints or eye scans. The combination of checking your biometric data against pre-recorded information in the network, and then referencing this against RFID identification, is close to unbreakable.

It’s a lot to think about, and you know, as information about the direction of various technologies was flowing past, something in my heart stirred and I wrote down the following question in my notes:

“If Jesus does not return soon, what will humankind, society and the world look like?”

It really is sobering. Even Christians fall into this great love of technology and are often blind to where it may be leading us. In this great rush forward will anyone remember God; the God who created the natural living world? Conversely, will mans increasing closeness to machines make us cold and dead like them? By 2010 it is predicted that there will be one billion transistors per human. How long before we start interfacing even more deeply with machines? RFID chips are already being put in dogs and yes, sometimes even in people. In Revelation 13 it says of the anti-Christ that:

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Rev 13:16-17)

Without wanting to close down consideration of other interpretations, I will leave you with a question. Could the mark of the beast be digital?

Read comments emailed in from Anthony (Minnesota, USA)

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