As consumers increasingly adopt devices that can collect information and transmit it to the Internet, the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday called on technology companies that sell those products to institute comprehensive measures to protect users’ data security and privacy.þþAdvancements like in-car sensors, which can record vehicle location and speed, or glucose monitors that can send information on diabetic patients to their doctors, have huge potential benefits, like reducing traffic accidents or improving public health. But the agency said the devices, which make up the so-called Internet of Things, also raise serious security and privacy risks that could undermine consumers’ confidence.þþ“The only way for the Internet of Things to reach its full potential for innovation is with the trust of American consumers,” Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the F.T.C., said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “We believe that by adopting the best practices we’ve laid out, businesses will be better able to provide consumers the protections they want and allow the benefits of the Internet of Things to be fully realized.”þþAbout 4.9 billion connected items for consumers, manufacturing and utilities will be in use this year, according to estimates from Gartner, a technology research firm. That number is expected to rise to 25 billion by 2020, the company said.þþOne concern is that hackers or malefactors could potentially hijack and misuse intimate information recorded by Internet-connect devices to the detriment of consumers.þþLast year, for instance, an electronics company that marketed what it said were “secure” Internet-connected cameras, allowing parents to remotely monitor their babies, settled a complaint by the F.T.C. that lax security practices had exposed its customers to privacy invasions. A security flaw allowed anyone with the cameras’ Internet addresses to view, and in some cases hear, what was happening in customers’ homes, the agency said.þþTo reduce the risk of such incidents, the agency’s new report recommends that companies institute security measures as part of their development process for Internet-connected devices and sensors, rather than as an afterthought. The report also recommended that companies ensure that their contractors can maintain reasonable security for those systems and that companies consider practices that would prevent unauthorized people from accessing consumers’ devices or data.þþFor security and privacy, the report also recommended that companies consider putting limits on the volume of information their devices collect from consumers and on the amount of time they retain that data. Such practices, the agency argued, would reduce the risk that information collected about people and their devices would be used “in ways contrary to consumers’ expectations.”þþBut the report stopped short of calling on Congress to mandate data security and privacy measures for Internet-connected devices. þþ“Any Internet of Things-specific legislation would be premature at this point in time, given the rapidly evolving nature of the technology,” the agency said in a news release.þ
Source: NY Times
