European Commission may regulate Internet of Things
updated 01:30 pm EDT, Fri April 13, 2012
EC requests public input into possible regulation
The European Commission have launched an investigation into regulating smart appliances in the future. Due to the vast amount of personal data at stake, the EC requested views on the “Internet of Things” (IoT) concerning privacy, safety, security, ethics, governance, and standards from the general public for the next three months.
The IoT is the name given to the oncoming generation of networked devices that communicate with each other on a regular basis, which may impact our lives heavily in the future. The EC gave an example detailing the reseting of alarms on clocks owned by students upon a teacher reporting in as ill, but there are other more serious contexts where this technology would be useful. The results of the consultation will be fed into the Commisson's Recommendation on the IoT, published by next summer.
Submissions of the European Commission's questionnaire on Internet of Things Governance will be accepted until the July 12.
