Brussels, 18/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 18 June, the European Commission presented an action plan to make sure that Europeans benefit from the “internet of things” and, at the same time, address the challenges of this revolution in terms of privacy, security and the protection of personal data. “The promise of this new development of the internet is as limitless as the number of objects in our daily life it involves. However, we need to make sure that Europeans, as citizens, as entrepreneurs and as consumers, lead the technology, rather than the technology leading us,” said EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding.
Today there are some 1.5 billion internet users, whether it be through a computer or mobile phone. One major development in the coming years will be to progressively connect not only computers but also machines and a variety of physical objects, thus creating the “internet of things”. The number of connected devices that are hardly visible, more complex and more mobile around us will multiply a hundred or even a thousand times over the next five to 15 years, offering Europeans the prospects of improvements to their daily lives but also posing security problems. Among the 14 measures outlined by the Commission today to promote the evolution of this “internet of things” in the EU are standardisation of the technologies involved across Europe and better funding of research, but also measures to protect people's privacy, data and security as the new technology takes shape around them. Last month, the Commission outlined the importance of putting the protection of people's personal data first as new technologies like smart tags (Radio Frequency Identification Devices - RFID) emerge and presented recommendations as to how this can be best achieved. (I.L./transl.rt)