The Governance Dimension of the Internet of Things

EURO-NF & GOVPIMINT Workshop (Leipzig II) in Cooperation with the
annual meeting of the IGF Dynamic Coalition of the Internet of Things (IGF-DyCIT)

Leipzig, Germany, March, 24-25, 2011

While there is still a discussion, what the concept of the” Internet of Things” means in practice, the real process of connecting objects equipped with RFID chips to the Internet via an IPv6 address continues to move forward. The market is growing and so growths the debate about the governance implications of the “Internet of Things”. The European Commission has established a “Task Force on the Internet of Things”, the European parliament has published a report about the issue and the recent 5th UN sponsored Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has reactivated the Dynamic Coalition on the Internet of Things (IGF-DyCIT). Among the key issues under consideration is whether an “Internet of Things” needs a governance mechanisms and, if yes, how such a mechanism should be designed. Other key issues are privacy, security and the idea to introduce a “right to silence the chip”.