Policymakers, advocates, regulators, and technical experts agree: the Internet of Things poses an ever-growing threat to cybersecurity, and consumers need a way to evaluate the privacy and security of smart devices they consider bringing into their homes. In May 2021, President Biden tasked the National Institute of Standards and Technology with identifying criteria for an IoT consumer labeling program. Those criteria were released in early February, but there remains the monumental task of figuring out how to translate a set of guidelines into a physical label which is included with every health wearable, smart appliance, or connected toy sold to American consumers.

Join New America’s Open Technology Institute for a discussion of the next steps in consumer IoT labeling, and why it is so important that consumers have a way to evaluate and compare connected products. Panelists will also discuss how civil society, companies, and other experts can collaborate with policymakers to get a labeling scheme off the ground, and how similar schemes have been implemented outside of the United States.

Keep up with the conversation on Twitter at the hashtag #CyberLabels and by following @OTI.

This event is part of IT Mod Week 2022, the nation's premier week-long tech festival dedicated to all things IT modernization. Browse other community-hosted events at itmodweek.com.

Speakers:

Katerina Megas, Cybersecurity for Internet of Things Program Manager, NIST

Justin Brookman, Director of Technology Policy, Consumer Reports

Nat Meysenburg, Technologist, New America’s Open Technology Institute

Moderator:

Andi Wilson Thompson, New America’s Open Technology Institute