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Encased pc desk5/30/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() (The researchers have since said this was a suggested use case specific to covid-19 protocols and that it could help cleaning staff focus on high-traffic areas-but they have moved away from the possibility.) ![]() For example, microphones on Mites could help students find a quiet room to study, they said-and Agarwal suggested at the town hall meeting in April 2021 that the motion sensor could tell an office occupant whether custodial staff were actually cleaning offices each night. The researchers hoped Mites would address these shortcomings and facilitate new uses and applications for IoT sensors. A Mites sensor installed in a wall panel in TCS Hall.Īdditionally, current IoT systems offer little transparency about exactly what data is being collected, how it is being transmitted, and what security protocols are in place-while erring on the side of over-collection. In addition, many smart devices today often only working in isolation or with specific platforms like Google’s Nest or Amazon’s Alexa they can’t interact with each other. And second, that the best solution is to build better sensors-more useful, more efficient, more secure, and better-intentioned.Īccording to the researchers, Mites represent a significant improvement over current building sensors, which typically have a singular purpose-like motion detectors or thermometers. The Mites project was based on two basic premises: First, that buildings everywhere are already collecting data without standard privacy protections and will continue to do so. Ultimately, if the people whose research sets the agenda for technology choices are unable to come to a consensus on privacy, where does that leave the rest of us? The future, according to Mites As in so many conversations about privacy, the two sides have been talking past each other, with seemingly incompatible conceptions of what privacy means and when consent should be required. But it has deteriorated from an academic discussion into a bitter dispute, complete with accusations of bullying, vandalism, misinformation, and workplace retaliation. The conflict is, in essence, an attempt by one of the world’s top computer science departments to litigate thorny questions around privacy, anonymity, and consent. Indeed, the Mites researchers hoped that the process they’d gone through “could actually be a blueprint for smaller universities” looking to do similar research, says Agarwal, an associate professor in computer science who has been developing and testing machine learning for IoT devices for a decade.īut the crucial question is what happens if-or when-the super-sensors graduate from Carnegie Mellon, are commercialized, and make their way into smart buildings the world over. “When we do something, companies … other universities listen,” says Widder. After all, Carnegie Mellon is a top-tier research university in science, technology, and engineering, and how it handles this research may influence how sensors will be deployed elsewhere. Voices on both sides of the issue were aware that the Mites project could have an impact far beyond TCS Hall. Walking into a friend’s house, a retail store, or just down a public street leaves us open to many different types of surveillance over which we have little control.Īgainst a backdrop of skyrocketing workplace surveillance, prolific data collection, increasing cybersecurity risks, rising concerns about privacy and smart technologies, and fraught power dynamics around free speech in academic institutions, Mites became a lightning rod within the Institute for Software Research. Instead, our privacy is determined by the choices of the people around us. But outside of our own homes (and sometimes within them), we increasingly lack autonomy over these decisions. All technology users face similar questions about how and where to draw a personal line when it comes to privacy. ![]()
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