Page 10 - Cyber Nation: How the Digital Revolution Is Changing Society

have the means to purchase digital de-
“The IoT reality repre-
sents both huge oppor- vices and develop technical skills. Mean-
tunity and huge vulner- while, impoverished people or those liv-
ability. They go hand in ing in rural areas or developing countries
hand.” 65 may not have access to the best, most
useful technology. Experts predict that
— Barry Chudakov, founder of
Sertain Research this divide will only worsen with time as
those with power develop smart sys-
tems to benefi t themselves. “Networked transactions . . . ben-
efi t smaller and smaller segments of the global population,”
67
says Oscar Gandy, who studies information and public policy at
the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of
Pennsylvania.
At the same time, the global population will become ever more
aware of this divide. As more people gain Internet access and
communicate with each other on social media, they will realize
what is going on. They will see how smart systems are benefi ting
the wealthy and the powerful but not the weak or disadvantaged.
“The anger, hostility, and resentment that will be generated in re-
sponse to this inequality seem likely to be expressed in ways that
will cause great and lasting harm,” says Gandy. Disadvantaged
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and disgruntled people could use social media to connect and
organize protests and revolutions that shake the foundations of
society. This confl ict could resolve in several ways. On the nega-
tive side, an oppressive, controlling regime could use surveillance
tools to weed out dissenters and squash rebellions. “We are cre-
ating a society by which a totalitarian government can control
everything. Right now it’s more power to the powerful,” says
69
Bruce Schneier, a security expert and chief technology offi cer at
IBM Resilient.

A World United
But it is also possible that hierarchical leadership could collapse.
As people all around the world connect and share ideas, they
may be able to act quickly to organize solutions to problems from

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