Has the Digital Revolution found it's End

Last week, Google had their yearly I/O meeting. They have applications which can complete your email, even use Google's AI to talk to a person (schedule a haircut), and even copy text from a book using your camera's lens.

I keep on thinking about the technological dangers when you have interconnected appliances from that very famous Sci-Fi movie ... G-FORCE. Ok. Maybe SciFi isn't the proper genre to put G-Force, but if all of the appliances in your room are interconnected, that's great for the company getting back all of the logs, but what's in it for you? Do you need all of these interconnected appliances giving away your usage habits?

You see, all of these new features are nice, but there is nothing earth-shattering here. Back in the days of the first EDI systems, not having to give a print manifest to a receiving manager when your truck backed up to a dock, was truly an evolutionary change. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) transformed the whole shipping, warehousing, and retail industry.

Back in the day, using microcomputers was known as the "Digital Revolution". It started back in the 1970's and 1980's. Starting from HTML, to XML and now to JSON (I would spell out all of these acronyms, but it will give you something to do later), there is very little left we can do with the transmission language to make it faster. The bits and bytes which govern the cyber-kingdom are getting faster through mobile technology, but the same protocols we have used back in the 70's and 80 still govern the speed in which data can be processed between computers (also, it is still point-to-point and with very little encryption). Is it speed which will lead our applications in the 21st century or security?

Now that there is a chicken in every pot, a computer on every desk, and the great Internet of things making everything from your toaster to your blender a cybernetic appliance: there is a looming question of where the next great technological innovation will come from. Basically, "What's Next?". Now that everything is hooked to the Net, what's next? Are my IoT devices more secure? What new functions are delivered to me using IoT? Where is the bottom line? What privacy do I need to give up for the next great technological leap? Will technology help to ensure no one takes my Eggo when it pops out of the toaster?

For starters, in the next iteration of technological awareness, I would like to see:

• Identity Management: We need a better way of knowing that the person who is ordering off of a website, buying a movie ticket, or even paying a parking fee is really that person. Maybe we need to get a chip embedded in each driver's license or ID card hat has PKI certificates, much like the DoD common access card (CAC), but it is handled by the state or federal Social Security Office. They already handle the most sensitive identity information you will ever have (a.k.a the infrastructure is already in place). Your digital identity is as important as your physical one. 
• Access Management: As part of your usage or a website, it is up to you to change your password every 90 days or your account is shut down until you do. It is up to the company to remind you to do it. On-line safety begins and ends with you.  

Technology is great when it works. It can help you pay for parking, get a discount on dinner, or even play video games. At the end of the day, you have to give something up in order to get the great functions that a computer can give. But, the time has come when cyber security should be the first function shown as a new feature at a tech show instead of the last. Last year, according to CNBC, cybercrime cost the world 450 billion dollars (2). All of it starts with protecting your identity and ensuring companies have the highest protection for your information. Currently, after cyberheists like Target, that's not happening. That's a [problem. Maybe at the next Google conference, they'll have the solution. Thank you for reading the blog. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Bibliography
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcomputer_revolution
(2) https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/07/cybercrime-costs-the-global-economy-450-billion-ceo.html