The European Commission wants to ensure the respect of the rights of individuals, and also to unleash the potential economic and societal benefits of the "Internet of Things" (IoT). For this reason, it launched a public consultation to gather views on rules for wirelessly connected devices - the "Internet of Things".

The public consultation opened by the European Commission on the "Internet of Things" (IoT) topic, has as main aim at seeking views on privacy, safety and security, security of critical IoT supported infrastructure, ethics, interoperability, governance and standards. The results of the consultation will feed into the Commission's Recommendation on the IoT, which will be presented by summer 2013. Currently, the European Commission is funding projects working in this issue such as the ESNA project.

The "Internet of Things" (IoT) is a future in which everyday objects such as phones, cars, household appliances, clothes and even food are wirelessly connected to the Internet through smart chips, and can collect and share data. According to the European Commission, its societal acceptance requires the definition of an ethical and legal framework, supported by technology and providing people with control and security where all players can compete on an equal footing.

The public consultation, which will be opened until the 12 of July 2012, is also bearing in mind that today, an average person has at least 2 objects connected to the Internet and this is expected to grow to 7 by 2015 with 25 billion wirelessly connected devices globally. By 2020 that number could double to 50 billion. This means a possible future in which many everyday things are linked.