Article 29 Working Party Opinion On ‘Internet Of Things’

On 16 September 2014, the Article 29 Working Party (the "Working Party") adopted Opinion 8/2014 (the "Opinion") on recent developments in the so-called 'Internet of Things' ("IoT"). The Working Party is an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy comprised of representatives from the national data protection authorities of the EU Member States, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Commission. It issues opinions on the level of protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data in the EU.

IoT refers to an infrastructure in which billions of sensors embedded in common, everyday devices are designed to record, process and store data. The devices are associated with unique identifiers and interact with other devices or systems using networking capabilities. Technology in this area is fast evolving, thus creating an increased amount of data processing which entails a higher risk to data protection rights.