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A number of potential challenges may stand in the way of the IoT vision – particularly in the areas of security; privacy; interoperability and standards; legal, regulatory, and rights issues; and the inclusion of emerging economies [IntSoc 2015a]. As concluded in this report, there is a need to address IoT challenges and maximize its benefits while reducing its risks.

From a broader perspective, the IoT can be perceived as a vision with technological and societal implications [ITU‐T 2012]. While such extreme interconnection will bring unprecedented convenience and economy, there are many challenges in terms of security and privacy risks that require novel approaches to ensure its safe and ethical use [Roman 2011]. Due to the complex nature of connected devices, their integration with other services, and the general insensitivity of hardware engineers to security issues, security is a technical and a cultural problem that regulators have little power to directly enforce. To make matters worse, even though the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recognizes the problem, it can do little to protect consumers as the IoT grows [Clearfield 2013].

While IoT technology can benefit several stakeholders, if the proper technology standards and policies are not in place, the backlash could easily stifle innovation [Palermo 2014].

Over the next 10–15 years, the IoT is likely to develop fast and shape a newer information society and knowledge economy, but the direction and pace with which developments will occur are difficult to forecast [Santucci 2010]. In order to reap the full benefits of such a technological disruption, resolutions are recommended to address these challenges in Europe [Santucci 2011]:

 Mobilize a critical mass of research and innovation effort for the creation of new products, processes, and services.

 Develop a new definition of privacy for a changed world.

 Protect the different building blocks of the IoT, considering how these blocks will work together and what kind of interoperable security mechanisms must be created, and to assure a certain level of security during the cooperation among IoT multiple actors, especially human beings, machines, and objects.

 Develop ethics for the IoT by promoting an important dialogue between computer scientists and the broader public and by bridging the digital divide between those with access to technology and those without.

Another challenge is the big data trend. The IoT connects everything with everyone in an integrated global network. People, machines, natural resources, production lines, logistics networks, consumption habits, recycling flows, and virtually every other aspect of economic and social life will be linked via sensors and software to the IoT platform, continually feeding big data to every node – businesses, homes, vehicles – moment to moment, in real time. Big data, in turn, will be processed with advanced analytics, transformed into predictive algorithms, and programmed into automated systems to improve thermodynamic efficiencies, dramatically increase productivity, and reduce the marginal cost of producing and delivering a full range of goods and services to near zero across the entire economy.

Another concern regarding IoT technologies pertains to the environmental impacts of the manufacture, use, and eventual disposal of all these semiconductor‐rich devices. Modern electronics are replete with a wide variety of heavy metals and rare earth metals, as well as highly toxic synthetic chemicals. This makes them extremely difficult to recycle properly. Electronic components are often simply incinerated or dumped in regular landfills, thereby polluting soil, groundwater, surface water, and air.

However, the next evolutionary stage of the IoT is touted by the IoE technology.