Blogs

New EC Expert Group on the Internet of Things

By EDRi · October 6, 2010

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [Neue EC Expert Group zum Internet der Dinge | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2247]

On 22 and 23 September 2010 the kick-off meeting of a new European
Commission (EC) High Level Expert Group on the Internet of Things was held
in Brussels. The group is made up of about 50 members representing
organisations from industry, standardisation, research, civil society and
other sectors. Representatives from member states, the European Data
Protection Supervisor and the Article 29 Working Party participate in the
group as observers.

The group will operate until December 2012. According to the action plan
described in the Communication of the European Commission “Internet of
Things – An action plan for Europe” the group will work on governance,
privacy and data protection, standards and interoperability, health and
environment and other topics related to the development of an Internet of
Things.

With regard to privacy and data protection the concept of the right to the
“silence of the chips”, which defines that everybody should have the right
to disconnect oneself from information technology, will be among the topics
to be discussed in the group.

Besides the Commission Communication, the report of the European Parliament,
the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee, the Opinion of
the Committee of the Regions on the Internet of Things and the Opinion of
the European Data Protection Supervisor on Promoting Trust in the
Information Society by Fostering Data Protection and Privacy will be
important documents guiding the work of the group.

EDRi has been invited by the European Commission to participate in the
Expert Group and is looking forward to working with the Commission, the
members and observers of the group on the framework for an Internet of
Things being an Internet for the people.

Commission Communication “Internet of Things – An action plan for Europe”
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/documents/commiot2009.pdf

European Parliament resolution of 15 June 2010 on the Internet of Things
(2009/2224(INI)) (15.06.2010)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2010-0207+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

EDRi-gram: EP calls for a clear legal framework for the Internet of Things
(30.06.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.13/european-parliament-on-internet-of-things

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on “The Internet of
Things”
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:077:0060:0063:EN:PDF

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Internet of Things and re-use
of Public Sector Information
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:175:0035:0039:EN:PDF

Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor on Promoting Trust in the
Information Society by Fostering Data Protection and Privacy (19.03.2010)
http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/webdav/site/mySite/shared/Documents/Consultation/Opinions/2010/10-03-19_Trust_Information_Society_EN.pdf

(Contribution by Andreas Krisch – EDRi)