House Digital Subcommittee Hearing Looks at Implications of IoT

The House Commerce Committee's Digital Subcommittee held a hearing on a bipartisan bill, the State of Modern Application, Research and Trends (SMART) IoT Act, which charges the Commerce Department with studying the Internet of Things (IoT) from various angles with an eye toward what the government needs to do to promote adoption while protecting the security of the nation's networks. On hand to talk about the kind of information the government needs were Tim Day, VP at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Dipti Vachani, VP of the IoT Group at Intel; and Michelle Richardson, deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. One of the takeaways was that the Chamber of Commerce is working on privacy and data protection principles that it will be releasing soon and will work with Congress on. House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said the bill was meant to "make sure stakeholders are aware of the playing field and are not creating conflicting or duplicative obligations or requirements." He called it a compendium of who is doing what in the IoT space, and in the process helping remove barriers to innovation.