In my day job, I work periodically with the International Telecommunications Union, a standards-setting body under the United Nations umbrella. Their new report, The Internet of Things, describes the kind of trends and challenges I’ve been covering in my book and in this Blog – “ubiquitous network society” may or may not be a synonym for neurosphere. Like the European Union, they are struggling to adapt old legal and regulatory structures to rapidly evolving technologies.

“We are heading towards what can be termed a “ubiquitous network society”, one in which networks and networked devices are omnipresent. …Technological standardization in most areas is still in its infancy, or remains fragmented. But perhaps one of the most important challenges is convincing users to adopt emerging technologies like RFID. Concerns over privacy and data protection are widespread, particularly as sensors and smart tags can track a user’s movements, habits and preferences on a perpetual basis. But whatever the concern, one thing remains clear: scientific and technological advances in these fields continue to move ahead at breakneck speed. It is only through awareness of such advances, and the challenges they present, that we can reap the future benefits of a fair, user-centric and global Internet of Things.”

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/internetofthings/