Wearable Technology and the Internet of Things. Exploring threats to users’ autonomy.

Abstract

This thesis explores the question whether personal technologies, in the context of the Internet of Things, pose a threat to users’ autonomy. Analysing what services wearables offer, and how these services are offered, by means of nudging techniques and algorithmic profiling techniques, one significant threat is found. Wearables can pose a threat to the autonomy of users by subtly mediating the users’ process of identifying himself as an individual. Firstly, wearables emphasise and modulate certain practices with which the user comes to identify himself. Second, wearables approach users according to group characteristics instead of individual characteristics, thereby further mediating identity. Although the effects hereof are dependent on the effectiveness of wearables and the scale on which they are employed, it is a significant threat that cannot be overcome by means of practical solutions as it stems from inherent features of wearables without which the devices cannot offer value. Moreover, the increased use of or reliance on algorithmic profiling within society can exacerbate this threat.