Samuel & Venkatraman 1

Especially in technology, we need revolutionary change, not incremental change, Larry Page,
co-founder of Google.

We affirm the Resolved: On balance, the benefits of the Internet of things outweighs the harms
of decreased personal privacy

We would like to define the following terms for clarification: Internet of things, = A network of
everyday devices, appliances, and other objects equipped with computer chips and sensors that
can collect and transmit data through the Internet. Outweigh, = to exceed in value, importance,
influence. Personal privacy, = the state of being apart from other people or concealed from
their view.

Main Argument One: The Internet of things saves lives

Sub Point A: Analyzing complex medical situations

Evidence: Since 1976, 70 million patients have survived lethal medical events because of
medical technology. Between 2000 and 2009, new therapies from technological advancements
have accounted for 73 percent of the increased life expectancy for these countries.
HealthCare Institute of New Jersey
Research from John Hopkins suggests human medical errors may kill more people than
lower respiratory diseases like emphysema and bronchitis do. That would make these medical
mistakes the third leading cause of death in the United States. That would place medical errors
right behind heart disease and cancer. Getting rid of the human error in these vital operations
can saves millions.
Science Magazine & CNN
Explanation: When there are statistics like this, you cant argue that personal privacy is more
important that the millions that have and will be saved.
Through the years of technology in the medical field, advancement like robotics are
being tested and used to execute precise and life determined operations that in the future could
potentially save lives. As it reduces the risk of potential human error in a life threatening
operation.

Sub Point B: Aids law enforcement in protecting the country

Evidence: Fingerprint identifiers are now available when the evidence from the crime scene
isn't enough. In a study, 50% of cases needing to get identities and were successfully found
through this system.
The police have used a murderers facebook page in order to access information about
his gang, and prevent future crimes.
CNN
Biometric Facial recognitions have stopped more crimes; specifically by arresting
2,500 more people New York alone since its 1st launch.
Evidence Magazine
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Explanation: Since we have developed so far in technology, we are reaping the benefits of it in
the criminal investigation world. Before, tracking down suspects of a cold case was next to
impossible. With the online databases and technology like printer print identifiers, the justice that
families deserve is no attainable.

Main Argument Two: The goods of reducing personal privacy outweigh the bads

Sub Point A: People are encouraged to be a better person

Evidence: Recent studies have shown that crime rates over the decade (which was during the
internet boom) have decreased by over 10 million according to the Huffington Post. Huffington
Post
Former CIA employee has stated that government surveillance is necessary to stop
threats such as terrorism. This 21st century war is different and requires new ways and
methods of gathering information. As technology has increased, so has our ability to gather
valuable, often actionable, intelligence.
CNN
Explanation: When you want to do something that you know is unmoral, having a clear back is
something that will sway your decisions towards or against.You would be less likely to shoplift in
a gas station if there is a cop car just down the street because you don't want to risk it.
Checks and balances would be given through court, government will look into peoples accounts
when there is a posed threat. Government has right to invade privacy only when there is a
posed threat. Now information that would be impossible to access form terrorists groups across
the world can be because of their internet use.

Sub Point B: Companies can improve based on consumer diagnostics

Evidence: Michael Higley a teacher says, Online feedback immediacy is an important
component of effective online communication.
E Learning Industry
Explanation: Since companies will have an online resource for feedback, they can make
adjustments to their product that will benefit the customers and the company so it's a win win.
Also applications may ask for permissions, but they make sure to ask you so in the end, it is
your own decision. When you hit accept though the application has access to some data, it only
uses it to make the application fully functional.

Main Argument Three: Exploring new opportunities

Sub Point A: IoT has allowed the economy to boom since it began
Evidence: At the start of the recent technology boom (1990) the unemployment rate was at 8%.
It is now half of that 27 years into the boom at 4%
To put that into numbers, the Artificial Intelligence Industry alone has been able to provide for
13.6 million jobs nationwide The Drum
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Explanation: Some will argue that technology has stolen some existing manual jobs. While this
might be the case, it has actually been able replace them with higher paying, more stable jobs
such as programmers or white hat hackers.

Sub Point B: Artificial Intelligence has been improving peoples lives with technology
advancements
Evidence: AI has been expanding and growing for many years now, with tasks that we do
everyday ranging from simple tasks such as conducting a google search to complex things like
Tesla cars.

Smart thermostats have been introduced and proven to save up to $180 a year. These
thermostats (nest and ecobee) allows you monitor specific room temperatures through the ease
of your phone from anywhere.
LifeHacker

Amazon Echo has over 25,000 different skills, able to do many different commands from the
control of your voice
Expanded Ramblings

The electricity sector could reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1030 million metric
tons relative to 2015 levels, a 45% reduction.
National Resource Defense Council

Advancements in apps such as Uber have significantly been able to save lives, for example
New York has seen a 25% to 35% decrease in alcohol related crashes since the release of
Uber.
Miami Herald

Explanation: Smart home devices have proven to help homes save money because you are
able to control your home straight from your phone. Devices such as smart door locks, realtime
security cameras have also allowed to added security or easy way to monitor your children from
your phone. Also using smart home hubs such as Amazons Alexa or Google home, allows you
to simply do almost anything without wasting much time or hassel going on your computer. With
electric cars being introduced the carbon footprint is being reduced, lower the rate of climate
change. Also apps like Uber have been introduced and been proven to save lives. All of this AI
used on everyday technology would be nearly impossible without the data collection provided by
the IoT.

Therefore we affirm the Resolved: On balance, the benefits of the Internet of things outweighs
the harms of decreased personal privacy

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Possible Rebuttals:

Q: What about xyz company that got hacked?

A: It is very likely that that company was not encrypting their personal data properly. There are
currently standards, such as AES or RSA, which at their lightest type of encryption which
would take all the computers currently on Earth more time than there are years left in the
universe to crack.

Q: What about people listening in on communications between devices (such as video cameras
or speakers)
A: Refer to the above encryption statement

- If they bring up an encryption algorithm that got cracked, then that algorithm likely was
not encrypting data properly (not hashing and salting the hashed data).