The shut fridge door

Widely recognised as one of the "fathers of the Internet", Vinton Gray Cerf, also the vice-president and chief internet evangelist for Google, was in India earlier this week to hold discussions with officials of the ministry of communications and information technology over the government's ambitious Digital India project. While delivering a lecture on the future of technology at Ficci, Cerf spoke of the "Internet of Things" and how life would be after it becomes commonplace. Soon, he said, your refrigerator will be connected through a chip and so will the health machine in the bathroom. Each time a member of the family steps on the machine, a report will be sent to the doctor about the person. So far, so good, thought the audience. But he took the example a bit further, and pointed out that the same report could also be sent to the refrigerator, which would then refuse to open if the health machine indicates that you are not following your diet.