Internet of Things

Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, speaking at the International CES tech event, said that privacy by design should be incorporated into products, including to ensure data security for homes outfitted with smart devices, the New York Times reports: "Ramirez seemed to be directing her remarks at the start-ups that are making most of the products — like fitness trackers and glucose monitors — driving the so-called Internet of Things." The chairwoman also called for tech firms to collect only the "personal data they need for a specific purpose and delete it permanently afterward."

We're embarking on an era when everyday objects will be connected to the Internet, whether it's devices in our home or it's devices we wear. Gigaom's Jeff John Roberts notes that digital privacy already is pretty limited. How will things look when even more objects are connected to the Internet? The problem, he says, is that Internet-connected objects "will start to pull all sorts of people — even those who aren’t on the Internet in the first place — into connected databases through photo tagging and other sensor features." ACLU's Jay Stanley offers some hope, arguing that, as a society, we may be embarking on a new level of awareness about the importance of privacy.

Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the Consumer Electronics Association, posits in Techdirt that the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings that warrants are needed before police may search criminal suspects' cellphones has struck the first blow to protect digital privacy in the era of the Internet of Things, or physical objects being connected to the Internet like smart thermostats, coffee pots and refrigerators: the decision "comes at just the right time, because it's not just our phones that are getting smart. Soon, just about everything we touch will capture data about us. Our cars. Our watches. Our clothing. The fundamental privacies at stake in this ruling transcend far beyond phones. The Supreme Court needed to write its decision with the bigger picture in mind, and it did."