--- title: Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet description: Your smart thermostat could take down the Internet, game theory explains how presidential elections are always so close and more. canonical: https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-04T16:00:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:22.195Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 4, 2016 4:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 4, 2016 4:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Your smart thermostat could take down the Internet. We need new rules.**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/03/your-wifi-connected-thermostat-can-take-down-the-whole-internet-we-need-new-regulations/) By Bruce Schneier in the Washington Post **2\.** [**Game theory explains how presidential elections are always so close.**](http://nautil.us/issue/42/fakes/why-are-us-presidential-elections-so-close) By Oliver Roeder in Nautilus **3\.** [**Here’s how states are turning their empty prisons into community assets.**](http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/11/03/shuttered-state-prisons-spring-back-to-life) By Jen Fifield at Pew Charitable Trusts **4\.** [**Is the Internet loosening our grip on the truth?**](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/technology/how-the-internet-is-loosening-our-grip-on-the-truth.html) By Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times **5\.** [**Want to understand Trump’s rise? Head to the farm.**](http://civileats.com/2016/10/27/want-to-understand-trumps-rise-head-to-the-farm/) By Siena Chrisman in Civil Eats  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/"},"headline":"Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet","datePublished":"2016-11-04T16:00:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:22.195Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/","keywords":["Innovation","Internet","Prisons","elections","WiFi","trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4558301/your-smart-thermostat-could-take-down-the-internet/","name":"Your Smart Thermostat Could Take Down the Internet"}}]}] ```