“We believe that connecting everyone in the world is one of the great challenges of our generation.”
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg
“There are three roads to ruin: women, gambling, and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians.”
Georges Pompidou, former French Prime Minister
I wonder how many devices I have in my home now which can connect to the internet? There’s my computer, my phone, my smart speaker, and all of my wife’s gadgets. Silicone Valley CEOs must be delighted with all these devices connecting people’s homes to a wider world. Silicone Valley companies make a lot of money selling adverts every time you use these “roads.”
Maybe these CEOs should pay more attention to the negative aspects of easy connectivity. After all, a door is a connection to the world, but we wouldn’t want a door to our house that couldn’t be locked.
A good example of the problems of connecting your home to the world emerged in England this week. The media reported on the trial of a 46 year old woman for invading the privacy of her ex boyfriend. The woman used an app to hack into her ex boyfriend’s Alexa enabled devices. She was therefore able to access his smart speaker, social media accounts, and even his home lighting. Accessing his smart speaker’s camera, she could see that he had a new girlfriend visiting his house. In a fury, she tried to frighten this visitor by turning the lights on and off in the house. She used her ex boyfriend’s account to send nasty messages to her. And she posted a naked picture of the man on his Facebook page, pretending that he had posted it himself. “Am I getting fat?” her post asked.
Be careful on the roads.
Vocabulary:
a road to ruin – a path to destruction or
disaster
a technician – an expert in the practical
application or use of technical equipment, scientific equipment, etc.
a gadget – a small electronic or mechanical
device, especially one seen as new or ingenious
in a fury – in a state of severe anger
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