Tag: IoT privacy

By Jessica Groopman, Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group

Perhaps the most important lesson the Internet has taught us is that connectivity itself has infinite implications—for good, bad, and most importantly, the unforeseen. We’ve watched digital transform entire industries like publishing, media, music, and retail. As we enter into the next phase of the Internet—the so-called Internet of Things, or more accurately, the digitalization of the physical world through sensors, data and connectivity— the potential for unforeseen implications and unintended consequences skyrockets.

We Can’t Know What We’ve Never Seen

The ratio of unforeseen consequences of data use, aggregation, sharing and targeting eclipses what we can predict. Yet we can illuminate our understanding of this with the following two implications:

• Connecting things anoints them with context through the data that is inherently created.
• Connecting things renders the things themselves and the data these things emit vulnerable to threats—to security, privacy and safety.

As the IoT industry grapples with these two competing implications, weighing innovation, opportunity, and potential on the one hand with security, privacy, and safety risks on the other, all constituents involved have a role in helping pave the way. Today we see a dizzying amount of activity and discussion around how to navigate these implications, but we’re in the infancy of this discourse, nevermind its application.

Read more “Privacy & The Internet of Things: The Importance of Transparency in Accounting for What We Can’t See” →