دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی اشیای کوچک و چالش های بزرگ: حریم خصوصی اطلاعات و اینترنت اشیا - SSRN 2018

The Internet of Things (IoT), the wireless connection of devices to ourselves, each other, and the Internet, has transformed our lives and our society in unimaginable ways. Today, billions of electronic devices and sensors collect, store, and analyze personal information from how fast we drive, to how fast our hearts beat, to how much and what we watch on TV. Even children provide billions of bits of personal information to the cloud through “smart” toys that capture images, recognize voices, and more. The unprecedented and unbridled new information flow generated from the little things of the IoT is creating big challenges for privacy regulators. Traditional regulators are armed with conventional tools not fully capable of handling the privacy challenges of the IoT. A critical review of recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement decisions sheds light on a recommended path for the future regulation of the IoT. This Article first examines the pervasiveness of the IoT and the data it collects in order to clarify the challenges facing regulators. It also highlights traditional privacy laws, principles, and regulations and explains why those rules do not fit the novel challenges and issues resulting from the IoT. Then it presents an in-depth analysis of four key FTC enforcement decisions to highlight how the FTC has and can regulate the IoT without undermining the innovation and benefits that this technology—and the data it provides— brings to our society. Specifically, the Article describes how the FTC, faced with the privacy challenge that accompanies the interconnected world of the IoT, has managed to apply traditional standards of “unfairness” and “deceptive practices” to protect private information. The FTC has been flexible and nimble with its interpretations of such standards and, in its most recent IoT case, FTC v. VIZIO, established a new “tool” in its toolkit for regulating IoT devices: an “unfair tracking” standard. As the de facto data protection authority in the United States, the FTC can use this new tool to work toward standardizing its treatment of IoT privacy issues instead of trying to fit those concerns neatly under the deception authority of section 5 of the FTC Act. However, this new tool also means that the FTC has the opportunity—and responsibility—to provide guidance on how it will wield that authority. To assure that innovation is not stifled and that this new rule is fairly applied (whether by the FTC or other agencies that may follow suit), it is imperative that the FTC diligently address concerns about the scope of this new rule and communicate that guidance to businesses, other regulators, and consumers alike. The new FTC administration should, as the primary regulator of information privacy and the IoT, continue the strong practice established by the previous administration, which is to provide guidance to businesses, consumers, and other regulators navigating the big challenges caused by the little things in the IoT.

CONCLUSION

Faced with the privacy challenge that accompanies the interconnected world of the IoT, the FTC has managed to use traditional privacy regulation standards, such as “unfairness” and “deceptive practices,” to protect private information. The FTC has been flexible and nimble with its interpretations of such standards and, in its most recent IoT case, VIZIO, established a new “tool” in its toolkit for regulating IoT devices: a new “unfair tracking” standard.275 As the de facto data protection authority in the United States, this new tool provides the FTC the ability to standardize its treatment of IoT privacy issues instead of trying to fit those concerns less neatly under the deception authority of section 5 of the FTC Act. However, this new tool also means that the FTC has the opportunity, and responsibility, to be proactive about wielding it. To assure that innovation is not stifled and that this new rule is evenly applied across industries (whether regulated by the FTC or other agencies), it is imperative that the FTC diligently address concerns about the scope of this new rule and communicate that guidance to businesses, other regulators, and consumers alike. The new FTC administration should, as the primary regulator of information privacy and the IoT, continue the strong practice established by the previous administration, which is to provide guidance to businesses, consumers, and other regulators navigating the big challenges caused by the little things in the IoT.