Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has set out its plan "to support the IoT" which it says is "is an emerging sector which is likely to see billions of smart gadgets and devices wirelessly connected to the internet and each other".
Ofcom 's acting chief executive, Steve Unger, can certainly see the opportunities of the IoT.
"The Internet of Things will bring benefits to a range of sectors and could change the way we live our lives," he said. He added that Ofcom wants to develop a framework for this technology so it can evolve in a way which benefits consumers.
There are four key areas that Ofcom believes need to be addressed:
Ofcom believes there are already "over 40 million devices connected via the IoT in the UK alone". This is forecast to grow more than eight-fold by 2022, with hundreds of millions of devices carrying out more than a billion daily data transactions.
To illustrate the diversity of the IoT, Ofcom described how it could be used in an application to ensure that fertilizer, fodder, and water are distributed across a farm "in the right quantities, in the right places, and at the right time". This is as good a way as any of demonstrating that the IoT is much more than just gadgets.
Ofcom is not alone in waking up to the issues around IoT devices. In the US, FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez on Tuesday announced new guidelines aimed at promoting "best practices" for the IoT along with her intention to "crack down on violations of privacy or deceptive consumer practices".
Not only is deeply personal information at stake, she said, "but as you have more and more devices it means there is more potential for exposure".
Speaking at the State of the Net conference in Washington, she said: "If you want these new technologies to flourish, you want to make sure consumers understand what is happening, understand what is being collected, with whom that information is being shared, how this information is being used."
Ramirez underscored the privacy concerns, saying, "If I'm wearing a fitness band that tracks how many calories I consume, I wouldn't want to share that data with an insurance company."
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