CHONGQING, China—On the outskirts of this southwestern Chinese hub lie the student factories. Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world’s largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice.
Dan Abate doesn’t have diabetes nor is he aware of any obvious link to the disease. Try telling that to data miners. The 42-year-old information technology worker’s name recently showed up in a database of millions of people with “diabetes interest” sold by Acxiom Corp.
Europol, Europe’s criminal intelligence agency, has painted a grim picture of threats that will be ushered in alongside the Internet of Things (IoT), even predicting that a death caused by an by internet-connected device may happen within the year.