IoT Safety and Security as Shared Responsibility

Abstract

What happens when everyday standalone devices and machines acquire network interfaces? The somewhat obvious result will be an unprecedented number of “things” connected to the Internet. It is less obvious what this means for the governance of the Internet when this occurs. With the “Internet of Things” (IoT) the Internet’s loosely coupled governance structures are already adapting to accommodate the evolution of the Internet’s use. As the governance structure continues to develop, users’ safety must be the first priority for all hardware and software providers. In the context of the Internet of Things, this paper proposes a definition of digital safety as distinct from security and discusses how multistakeholder governance can be applied to address safety challenges. The paper also considers the integration of “old” industries and the transformation of their governance into the multistakeholder model as their products and services are coming online. We consider how the thousands of manufacturers who traditionally produced analog, not-connected physical “things” adapt to become stakeholders in the Internet and how that changes the way that we think about Internet Governance. The particular interest of this paper is how to address safety issues that become much more prominent with the spread of Internet-enabled physical environments.

Keywords: Internet of Things, IoT, Internet governance, cybersecurity, digital safety

JEL Classification: K32, O14, O3, R38, G18