Ambient Assisted Living Systems - The Conflicts between Technology, Acceptance, Ethics and Privacy

Installing and using AAL Smart Home-systems in the homes of older people not only offers a tremendous potential for increasing safety and quality of life but may also evoke reluctance and anxiety. Will such a system become a "Big Brother" watching the steps and the behaviour of the inhabitants and betray them to their outside world? In several field-trials of an AAL Smart Home-system with inhabitants of senior residences we were able to learn about the issues concerning acceptance, ethics and privacy when senior citizens and their care persons are confronted with this kind of technology for the first time