Sara M. Watson: Google’s Purchase of Nest Opens Home to New Analytics Use Cases

Google’s Purchase of Nest Opens Home to New Analytics Use Cases : I was interviewed for an article in Data Informed on Nest, Google and data in our homes: “It’s a Catch-22 problem. The way the Internet of Things is going to be appealing is when it becomes seamless and completely integrated into all the other data sources that you have,” says Sara M. Watson, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, who studies how technology is blurring the lines between the physical and virtual. “The problem with all this technology is that we’re adding all this functionality but that requires a lot of trust in those companies that handle that data.” … “When all the digital information was on the Web, it was more contained and didn’t feel like encroachment. Now that it’s the world of physical devices, it’s much more personalized and graspable,” says Watson… “I think the larger thing that’s going to happen is that we’re going to start demanding more visibility and legibility of data trails. Until now, there hasn’t been enough of a demand for that mostly because it’s been happening in the background,” says Watson, the technology researcher. “Encroachment into the physical world is where it gets more complicated.” Read more …