Causation and Scope of Liability in the Internet of Things (IoT)

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a series of networked ‘smart devices’ that are equipped with microchips, sensors, and wireless communications ca‐ pabilities. It involves several layers which encompass tangible elements (hardware-defined products), embedded and non-embedded software (software-defined products), supply of digital infrastructures (network fab‐ ric) and external processing and exploitation of data (external systems).1 Most of the IoT projects identified by IoT Analytics in its 2018 report are in Smart City (367 projects), followed by various other industrial set‐ tings (265) and Connected Building IoT projects (193).2 The major cat‐ egories of IoT technologies include ‘smart’ consumer technologies, wear‐ ables, ‘smart’ manufacturing and infrastructure technologies, and un‐ manned transportation3. The best known of these technologies are proba‐ I.