Ecco di seguito uno stralcio del documento elaborato in seno al Parlamento della Commissione Europea relativamente a Internet of Things: un action plan per l’Europa.

INTERNET OF THINGS : THE UMBRELLA FOR A NEW PARADIGM

The growth of the Internet is an ongoing process: only twenty-five years ago it was connecting about a thousand hosts and has grown ever since to link billions people through computers and mobile devices. One major next step in this development is to progressively evolve from a network of interconnected computers to a network of interconnected objects, from books to cars, from electrical appliances to food, and thus create an ‘Internet of things’ (IoT). These objects will sometimes have their own Internet Protocol addresses, be embedded in complex systems and use sensors to obtain information from their environment (e.g. food products that record the temperature along the supply chain) and/or use actuators to interact with it (e.g. air conditioning valves that react to the presence of people). The scope of IoT applications is expected to greatly contribute to addressing today’s societal challenges: health monitoring systems will help meet the challenges of an ageing society connected trees will help fight deforestation; connected cars will help reduce traffic congestion and improve their recyclability, thus reducing their carbon footprint. This interconnection of physical objects is expected to amplify the profound effects that large-scale networked communications are having on our society, gradually resulting in a genuine paradigm shift.
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Privacy and protection of personal data
Social acceptance of IoT will be strongly intertwined with respect for privacy and the protection of personal data, two fundamental rights of the EU. On one hand, the protection of privacy and personal data will have an influence on how IoT is conceived. For example, a home equipped with a health monitoring system could process some of the inhabitants’ sensitive data. A prerequisite for trust and acceptance of these systems is that appropriate data protection measures are put in place against possible misuse and other personal data related risks. On the other hand, it is likely that the uptake of IoT will affect the way we understand privacy. Evidence for this is given by recent ICT evolutions, such as mobile phones and online social networks, particularly among younger generations.
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Trust, Acceptance and Security
Information security is a must and is seen by most stakeholders as a major concern of IoT.
In the private sphere, information security is closely linked to the questions of trust and privacy mentioned above. Past experience with the development of ICT shows that they are sometimes neglected during the design phase, and that integrating features to safeguard them at a later stage creates difficulties, is costly and can considerably reduce the quality of the systems. It is therefore crucial that IoT components are designed from their inception with a privacy- and security-by-design mindset and comprehensively include user requirements. As part of its 2009 Work Programme, in support of EU policy, the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has undertaken to identify emerging risks affecting trust and confidence, in particular regarding RFID. This constitutes a first step in the understanding of the privacy and security risks that will impinge on IoT.
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Conclusion
By adopting a proactive approach, Europe could play a leading role in shaping how IoT works and reap the associated benefits in terms of economic growth and individual well-being, thus making the Internet of things an Internet of things for people. Failing to do so would mean missing an important opportunity and could place Europe into a position where it is forced to adopt technologies that have not been designed with its core values in mind, such as the protection of privacy and personal data.

Il documento  in versione integrale è  qui

Previsioni per il futuro di Internet? Ecco qualche scenario  con una proiezione che va dai giorni nostri al..2050!