The internet is evolving rapidly: while 25 years ago it was connecting only about 1,000 users, today it links around 1.5 billion people across the world. An average European has now at least one object that is connected to the internet, be it a computer or mobile phone. But the number of connected devices that are hardly visible, more complex and more mobile around us will multiply 100 or even 1,000 times over the next five to 15 years.
The European Commission has therefore announced an action plan to make sure that Europe can play a leading role in shaping these new networks of interconnected objects from books to cars, from electrical appliances to food - in short the emerging "internet of things".
The EU's action plan will help Europeans benefit from this evolution and at the same time address the challenges it raises such as privacy, security and the protection of personal data.
"Every day we see new examples of applications that connect objects to the internet and each other: from cars connected to traffic lights that fight congestion, to home appliances connected to smart power grids and energy metering that allows people to be aware of their electricity consumption or connected pedestrian footpaths that guide the visually impaired," said Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "The promise of this new development of the internet is as limitless as the number of objects in our daily life it involves. However, we need to make sure that Europeans, as citizens, as entrepreneurs and as consumers, lead the technology, rather than the technology leading us."
Today's internet links about 1.5 billion users worldwide through computers and mobile devices (about 300 million in the EU). One major development in the coming years will be to progressively connect not only computers but also machines and a variety of physical objects, thus creating the "internet of things".
These can be simple everyday items like yoghurt pots that record the temperature along their supply chain, or two prescription drugs that warn patients of a possible incompatibility. Or they can be more sophisticated, such as health monitoring or recycling systems that can help address today's societal challenges like the ageing society and climate change. With everyone surrounded daily by several thousand objects, this interconnection of physical objects will amplify the profound effects that modern communications are having on our society.
Among the 14 actions outlined by the Commission to promote the evolution of this "internet of things" in the EU are standardisation of the technologies involved across Europe and better funding of research, but also measures to protect people's privacy, data and security as the new technology takes shape around them. Already last month the Commission outlined the importance of putting the protection of people's personal data first as new technologies like smart tags (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) emerge and presented recommendations as to how this can be best achieved.
The Commission said it is also working to make sure there are enough internet addresses (which are needed to connect every object to the internet just as they are for websites) for this new wave of connected objects to emerge. This requires the roll out of the latest source of internet addresses (IPv6), setting the conditions for its widespread take-up that will allow objects like household items to have their own internet protocol addresses to connect to other devices.
The action plan on the "internet of things" can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/index_en.htm