July 10, 2009

The Marketing of the future? Hope not

From the WIRED blog: " ....the next generation of implantable devices to control prosthetic limbs will likely include wireless controls that allow physicians to remotely adjust settings on the machine. If neural engineers don’t build in security features such as encryption and access control, an attacker could hijack the device and take over the robotic limb".
Not a very nice thought that someone else takes over has control over your leg! However things can get even worst. One question is whether next to the robotic limbs hackers could possibly take over more things like a person's brain. With the advances in the area of brain-computer interfaces in combination with wireless capabilities this does not seem improbable.
Such news might sound like music to the ears of some. After all influencing peoples' behavior is one of Marketing tenets. Let's keep an eye on this story.