Internet of Things and Privacy: Analyzing Panopticon Prison Concept

This essay explores the concept of a panopticon prison, inspired by Jeremy Bentham's design, and examines the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) in such a setting. It discusses how IoT technology can be used to monitor inmates, raising privacy concerns and the risk of creating a modern-day panopticon. The essay analyzes the security risks associated with IoT devices, such as data breaches and cyberattacks, and their potential impact on future societies. It also highlights the benefits of IoT, including automation, communication, and cost savings, while emphasizing the need to address privacy issues. The research concludes that while IoT offers numerous advantages, its widespread adoption could lead to a society where individuals feel constantly monitored, akin to living in a panopticon prison. Desklib provides this assignment solution and many other resources for students.

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Internet of things and privacy

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Internet of thingss and privacy
As per the given scenario, a panopticon prison is a kind of prison which is designed by
the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The purpose of this
system is to allow all inmates to be evaluated by a single guard without the inmates
being able to tell whether or not they are being watched (The Guardian, 2015). In order
to control and monitor the activities of inmates, the internet of things technology can be
used in the prison that has the ability to manage physical things by using internet
connectivity. The purpose of this essay is to analyse the concept of a panopticon prison
and review the importance of internet of things along with their impacts on future
societies. There are several aspects will be discussed in this research essay such as the
risk of a panopticon prison, privacy issues linked with the IoT technology, the role of IoT
and impact of the internet of thingss in the future societies.
The panopticon is a kind of system which is designed and implemented by Jeremy
Bentham which identified that inmates of intuition can be observed with the help of
single watchman. Moreover, it is physically not possible for the one watchman to
analyse all the inmate’s cells at once because the inmates cannot know when they are
being watched by the watchman which are already motivated to act as they are being
watched by watchman every time (Brown, 2018). For addressing such kind of problems
in the prison the internet of things technology can be used that has the potential to
detect the physical activities of inmates and connect physical devices with the things by
using internet connectivity. In this modern era, there are numbers of consumer’s uses
the internet of things technology in their homes for monitoring their computer devices.
With the growing of interest in the internet of thingss, there is a risk that one day people
ended up living in a modern generation of panopticon prison. The major reason behind
this is the popularity of devices such as Google Clips which is an IoT based device that
uses artificial intelligence to take pictures of people in the family (Riggins, and Wamba,
2015). Users did not know when their pictures are being taken which puts them in a
place similar to panopticon prison. Moreover, security is a major concern with the
internet of things due to which consumers can lose the privacy of their devices and
networks which can be seen as panopticon prison. Mirai botnet is one of the latest
examples of IoT security due to which numbers of users were lost the security of their

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physical devices along with their private information. During this attack, users were not
aware of that data was being breached and security risks linked with the IoT technology
(Shin, 2014). This example shows that in the future when consumers use similar devices
based on IoT, then they will feel like they are living in a kind of Panopticon Prison.
In this modern era, most of the consumers are gaining interest in the field of IoT
because of their ability to control and manage physical devices used in homes and
offices. It is analysed that security is the biggest concern with the IoT technology but
many people are taking interest due to their several advantages such as more effective,
easy to use, can be used for controlling numbers of devices, more flexible and so on. A
recent study identified that the internet of things is an advanced information technology
which can be used for connecting physical things with computer devices and networks
(Ng, and Wakenshaw, 2017). The use of the internet of things is growing rapidly and it
is now used in the field of automation to control devices from any location.
The key aspect of IoT technology is that it does not require any connecting wires and
directly link with the computer and electronic devices in order to monitor their
functions. Home appliance is one of the best applications of IoT technology where
consumers access home devices and networks from any location which increases the
interest of other users (Pan, et al., 2015). The main problem linked with the IoT is
security risks due to which consumers can suffer from the data breach and threats but
many consumers are using this technology for controlling their daily life activities.
According to Caron, et al., (2016) there are various kinds of privacy issues occur with
the internet of things which includes malware, data breach, phishing, denial of service
attack, ransomware attack and so on.
It is observed that information on IoT has focused mainly on the customer side of the
industry; new data can be illustrated with the help of this information technology. From
a recent study, it is identified that in last few years the use of Internet of things has
increased by 67% and 50 billion consumers are using this technology in their daily life
activities (Kortuem, et al., 2013). There are major three elements of the internet of
thingss which increase their interest in the users such as communication, control and
automation and cost saving (Weber, 2015). Internet of things plays a major role in the
field of communication where it helps consumers to send data or information from one
place to another by using internet connectivity. Moreover, it can predict the state and

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health of components used in the system by which users can reduce the damaging
issues. For example, companies and users can detect their assets by using GPS-enables
system and IoT based devices.
Moreover, Iot provides a platform for the business industries and users for controlling
and automatically perform computer devices. The best things about the internet of
thingss is that any piece of equipment can be turned on or off through a remote system.
cost saving is the best aspect of the IoT technology by which companies and users can
save a lot of money for developing and implementing the remote based systems
(Dastjerdi, and Buyya, 2016). With sensor used in IoT devices, consumers can perform
planned maintenance and reduce fuel expense in an effective manner. Therefore, all
these arguments and key points indicate that the use of IoT technology is growing
rapidly and users are taking interest in this advanced information technology.
In the next ten years, the use of internet of things and other information technology will
be increased and many consumers will use this technology for managing their works
and computer devices. In the future, the internet of things will affect the world and
society in both positive and negative manner. It is estimated the use of internet of things
in next ten years will be increased by 50% because every user requires for perform
their works automatically and business industries can improve their performance by
using such kind of technologies (Chandrakanth, et al., 2014). In future business
industries and users can optimize their data and information by using IoT technology
and reduce the efforts of human while performing more complex tasks.
Moreover, the hackers will continue to use IoT based devices for facilitating the denial
of service attacks and it increases the security threats and risks in the next ten years
because every user will use the internet for accessing IoT services. With the help of IoT
devices, more cities will become smart and World will change the way of
communication using the internet of things technologies. In the next ten years, most
users and companies will adopt IoT technologies for saving their time and money and
they will able to access their physical devices from any location.
It is observed that IoT is not an only interconnecting things with the devices but it is
also causing information technology and operating system to merge. Due to which
cybercriminals are mainly focusing on the user's personal data and information but in

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the future generation, the rate of a data breach will be increased. Moreover, in the
future world many business industries will design and implement IoT based devices for
controlling their business in an effective manner (Uzelac, Gligoric, and Krco, 2015). In a
negative manner the IoT will impact on the children and people who are living in the
society where they will require performing and completing their works by putting less
effort. Moreover, in future generation internet of things will abdicate people to use
computer devices and internet which will impact on the communication between
consumers and their family member. It is another negative impact of IoT which will be
increased in the future.
This research essay is based on the panopticon prison and the role of the internet of
things in this modern era. From the above discussion, it is concluded that the use of
internet of things can increase the risk of living consumers in a new kind of Panopticon
prison. IoT has the potential to control and manage physical devices and networks from
any location and it provides a platform for exchanging information over a computer
network. This essay reviewed the importance of IoT and identified the reason behind
the increasing interest of people towards IoT technology. It is argued that privacy is one
of the major concerns with IoT devices due to which users and companies may suffer
from data breach issues. Therefore, in the next ten years the use of IoT will grow rapidly
and it will impact on communication systems and business industries in an effective
manner.

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References
Brown (2018) Internalized Authority and the Prison of the Mind: Bentham and Foucault's
Panopticon. [online]. Available from:
https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13thingsss/
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Chandrakanth, S., Venkatesh, K., Mahesh, J.U. and Naganjaneyulu, K.V., (2014) Internet of
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The Guardian (2015) What does the panopticon mean in the age of digital surveillance?
[online]. Available from:

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/23/panopticon-digital-
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