This is fucking dire. If an SF author written this while trying to warn us about the internet of things in a dystopian satire, we’d have said this was too heavy handed. But this is reality now.

Ccnn.comMay 8, 2024 11:12pm

More than 200 people with diabetes were injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly due to a problem with a connected mobile app, the FDA says.

More than 200 people with diabetes injured after software issue drained insulin pump batteries | CNN

More than 200 people with diabetes have been injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly due to a problem with a connected mobile app, the US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

I don't know if it's still the case, but once upon a time the OmniPod insulin pumps were controlled by a little device called the Dash PDM which was literally a Nuu A1 smartphone with a custom firmware. Imagine the cheapest Chinese junk smartphone, now imagine that it's running your pancreas.

I used to work in software. Business managers prioritise getting to market over silly little things like proper function (see Post Office Horizon Scandal UK) and vital functions like what to do when things fail like internet, power.

This really angers me. I mean, we found it frustrating when capitalist negligence led to a bad software update bricked our EV charger. But to be seriously injured by something like that? Fucking criminal and I hope people get charged.

Charlie Stross did. Check out Halting State and Rule 34. Also here’s his blog from 10 years ago. www.antipope.org/charlie/blog...

This reminds me of that Cory Doctorow story “Unauthorized Bread”!!

Cory Doctorow wrote Radicalized and one of the stories in it was about IoT

Not to say you’re wrong but Cory Doctorow did write something like that in Unauthorized Bread and it was pretty good. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical...

Radicalized (Doctorow book) - Wikipedia

I can't remember the exact quote or who said it, but there was a line I saw recently that sums the situation up quite succinctly. Sci-fi dystopias don't predict the horrors of the future, they reflect the horrors that already exist today.

A small prequel to illustrate why I will never have a self driving car or allow myself to be controlled by anything that comes over the electronic media.

WHOA!!!