Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence

Citation

Graux, H. (2009), "Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence", Foresight, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 96-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680910936477

The concept of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a complicated one, both from a technological and a philosophical perspective. Visions of a future society in which we are all constantly monitored by automated and interconnected decision making systems are always painted in stark colours. Fiction novelists tend to prefer dystopian imagery of environments in which individual identity has been all but eliminated. Industry stakeholders emphasise the fantastic new possibilities to improve economic efficiency, stimulate interpersonal contacts and enrich business relations. Academics emphasise that no one really knows what will happen, neither from a technical or societal point of view, but that we should certainly all be wary of AmI trends. On one element however there is consensus: AmI technologies are going to play a larger and larger role in our daily lives, and most of us are woefully uninformed of the possibilities and privacy risks that this evolution poses.

This book – Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence – aims to remedy at least a part of this problem. Starting from the safe assumption that AmI technologies will indeed gradually permeate many key aspects of our lives, the authors set out to show us how this might occur, and where the main challenges lie. It provides an overview of current AmI technologies, their possible applications and the resulting privacy threats, along with potential safeguards from a technical, legal and socio‐economic perspective. In doing so, it also references some of the more interesting AmI research projects in recent years, allowing the reader to quickly identify key initiatives in the field.

However, the main selling point of the book (and the bulk of its content) consists of four so‐called “dark scenarios”. In each of these scenarios, a number of scenes are provided that describe how ambient intelligence might be used in the near future, using accessible, specific and tangible storylines. As might be expected given the “dark scenario” label, each scenario goes awry in some way, either due to a faulty AmI implementation, a misunderstanding about its functioning, or simply due to unintended consequences. In all cases, the privacy of the scenarios' AmI users is impaired in an unforeseen and difficult to remedy manner. Each scenario is then assessed to identify the key technologies and drivers behind the AmI applications, the resulting issues and privacy impacts, and the currently applicable legal framework.

The scenarios thus provide an original methodological device allowing the authors to ground their analysis work in specific (albeit fictitious) experiences. The stories are mostly recognisable and credible, striking an appropriate balance between hypothetical future developments and current trends and technologies, thus giving the reader a good feel for potential applications and risks that could conceivably develop in the near future. While the approach by its very nature is fairly ad hoc, focusing on specific issues rather than on general trends, it does a remarkable job at providing the reader with an intuitive understanding of possibilities and risks, even before the more systematic and coherent analysis of the following chapters is read.

In this way, the book provides an excellent introduction to anyone who wants to get a tangible overview of AmI developments and privacy issues, rather than simply reading through any number of studies containing mostly basic principles and abstract analysis, and this is its major merit. Through these specific scenarios, the reader is provided with a solid insight into the drivers behind AmI technologies – including how the technologies will be sold to the end users – and into the consequences that this will have. In that sense, the book meets its stated goal of being a warning to policy makers, stakeholders and the public alike about the coming wave of AmI.

To assist these groups in handling future challenges, the book also presents a set of safeguards, recommendations and conclusions for policy making in an AmI environment. As they are no longer linked to the specific scenarios, these recommendations are both more systematic and more abstract, which is a mixed blessing: on the one hand, they are quite comprehensive and provide broad and valuable policy guidelines; but the downside is that they are also more generic and less easily reduced to practical decision making.

However, none of this detracts from the clear value that the book has to offer. Through its scenario‐based approach, the reader is provided with valuable insights in upcoming AmI technologies, their expected impact on our future lives, and even in potential ways of handling the resulting challenges, including through novel approaches that might not even be intuitively apparent to data protection experts. This is no small achievement in its own right, and certainly makes the book recommended reading for anyone who feels they could benefit from a greater understanding of the domain.