How Can We Do Better? Finding Cyber Peace in the Internet of Things

Making predictions is generally a somewhat foolhardy endeavor, especially in a field as dynamic as the Internet of Things (IoT), but history can be a useful guide. After all, according to George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, “The best qualification of a prophet is to...

Governing the Internet of Things

Beginning in 2020, smart devices sold in California that connect “directly or indirectly” to the public Internet have to be equipped with “reasonable” cybersecurity features such as a unique password.1 But how, exactly, should we define “reasonable” security? More broadly, are we...

Securing Everything?

Success sometimes has unexpected or counterproductive consequences. For example, as the makers of Kleenex, Q-Tip, and Band-Aid know, widespread success can cause a trademark to become “genericized” in the United States and elsewhere, undermining a brand’s investment in a unique identifier. In the case...

Cyber-What?

The Internet of Things (IoT) exists at the intersection of “cyberspace” and physical space, though the line between the two is increasingly blurry. As Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab, has said, “This is just the beginning, the beginning of understanding that...

Analogizing the Internet of Things

As any new frontier opens or industry matures, it’s natural to search for analogies and historical precedents to guide both our actions and perceptions. President Kennedy famously compared space exploration to seafaring.1 The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning discussed further...

Protecting Privacy in an Internet of Everything

As with security, concerns are replete over how best to scale privacy in the emerging Internet of Everything (IoE). How should we define “privacy” in an environment where our thermostats may know more about us than close friends? Is privacy even possible? Or, perhaps...

Welcome to the Internet of Things

New inventions often open the door to unanticipated impacts that are difficult to foresee as they interact with and influence the evolution of systems around them. Take tractors, for instance.1 Today, they are everywhere—in lots of different forms. Before the late nineteenth...