White House rallies industry support for Internet of Things labeling effort

White House officials convened industry leaders, policy experts and government leaders to discuss plans for security and privacy standards on connected devices. The meeting, billed as a workshop for a nascent White House Internet of Things labeling initiative, focused on the implementation of the initiative with a focus on issues such as how to ensure labels match international standards, how to design a barcode to ensure consumers can find timely information about a product online and how to raise overall consumer awareness of Internet of Things (IoT) vulnerabilities. The meeting was attended by top White House cyber official Anne Neuberger, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, and Senator Angus King (I-ME), alongside consumer tech associations, industry executives and the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Consumer Reports. Industry leaders from Google, AT&T, Comcast, Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Samsung, and Sony attended the meeting as well, as did officials from the American National Standards Institute and the National Retail Federation. The labeling program is still in its early stages, but the White House expects to roll out the first set of standards in Spring 2023 and plans to launch the voluntary program with standards in place for particularly vulnerable internet-connected devices such as internet routers. The program will likely rate devices based on standards that include vulnerability remediation, the amount of information collected on consumers, whether data is encrypted, and interoperability with other products. The label will include a barcode for consumers to scan so they can see a given manufacturer’s security practices in real-time.