Citation[]
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, The Internet of Things: An Introduction to Privacy Issues With a Focus on the Retail and Home Environments (Feb. 2016) (full-text).
Overview[]
This paper helps individuals understand how their privacy will be affected by the online networking of a multitude of uniquely identified, everyday objects, which has come to be known as the Internet of Things. Attention to these issues is needed now: rapid technological innovation, consumer demand and dropping costs are fueling the development and adoption of a new generation of low-energy sensors. These sensors, integrated in consumer items and infrastructure, can amplify the tracking and profiling risks that are characteristic of the mobile and wearable computing environment. Without adequate protections, these developments may pose significant risks to our privacy.
This paper provides an overview of the Internet of Things technologies generally, and with special application in the retail and home context. It then goes on to examine some of the challenges that this new environment creates through the lens of specific privacy issues: customer profiling, accountability, transparency, ethics of data collection, access and correction rights, the existing consent model, as well as the challenges of device and information security.