The Internet of Things From a Legal Perspective

The internet of things (IoT) is one of successive technological waves that could have great impact on different aspects of modern life. It is being used in transport, smart grids, healthcare, environmental monitoring, logistics, as well as for processing pure personal data through a fitness tracker, wearable medical device, smartwatch, smart clothing, wearable camera, and so forth. From a legal viewpoint, processing personal data has to be done in accordance with rules of data protection law. This law aims to protect data from collection to retention. It usually applies to the processing of personal data that identifies or can identify a specific natural person. Strict adherence to this law is necessary for protecting personal data from being misused and also for promoting the IoT industry. This chapter discusses the applicability of the data protection law to IoT and the consequences of non-compliance with this law. It also provides recommendations on how to effectively comply with the data protection law in the IoT environment.