According to a recent Wired article entitled 'Are Enterprises Ready for Billions of Devices to Join the Internet?' by David Puglia, "[t]here are currently more devices connected to the Internet than there are people in the world." That is a pretty astonishing statistic! The article went on to describe how that number is only expected to grow exponentially in the future thanks, in large part, to the widespread proliferation of the Internet of Things ("IoT"), and how the expansion of the IoT will impact the computer network architecture that supports and provides connectivity for all of these devices.
In a very rudimentary sense, the IoT is an ever expanding network of what were once considered everyday objects that can can now operate through available bandwidth to further automate the way we live, work, and play. That calorie counting bracelet you got for Christmas and the home monitoring system you use to keep track of the nanny from your smartphone — all of that stuff is part of the IoT. The IoT is nothing new, EZPass has been around to collect tolls in the NY/ NJ metropolitan area where I live since I was in grade school.
Nonetheless, the IoT has revolutionized modern society, and I don't expect it to stop doing so any time soon. The 21st Century may not have brought us flying cars, but one thing from one of my childhood favorite cartoons, 'The Jetsons,' has become a reality. The types of activities that are capable through the IoT are the closest that we have come to having our very own Rosie the Robot, so far. For those of you that don't remember, she was the loveable, do everything housekeeper that the futuristic family relied upon for cleaning, meals, and overall domestic tranquility.
The growth of the IoT, to date, along with the anticipated continuation of that growth into the future, means that there will be a corresponding amount of additional ESI flying around in cyberspace, ripe for capturing and use in legal proceedings. Capturing those bits and bytes to demonstrate the comings and goings of people and things surely will lead to some groundbreaking opportunities for advocacy. At the same time, there are very real privacy considerations and hacking risks that will have us continuing this dialogue for years to come.
As you ring in 2015 this week, keep in mind that we are only on the precipice of the technology revolution, and we have not yet mastered the last of the unique legal challenges that our increasingly digitized world present. In fact, I would argue, we have only scratched the surface.
All the best for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!
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