How can the government stop the Internet of perceived risks?

[Commentary] The interesting discussion inside the Federal Trade Commission's report on the Internet of Things is how data has become a catalyst for innovation.

Inside the report we see hints of the next shift, the one where your next innovation isn’t built around how fast you can code or iterate, but on your data streams and the quality and defensibility of your algorithms. And in that world, the threat of legislation around data privacy and even some of the more-reasonable consumer opt-ins or disclosure suggestions around user data found in the report are an existential threat. Many of the requests for dumping user data quickly or trying to limit the way data could be used was met with worries about how that would stymie innovation. Even trying to tell consumers how it could be used, so companies could offer an opt-in opportunity, was impossible because companies don’t even know what they want to do with it yet. Companies want data -- all of it -- because they understand that having access to it could be a catalyst for future products and business. The hard part will be convincing the industry to make the Internet of Things a great experience, perhaps by teaching it to see the public as human beings rather than just consumers.