Ethics and the internet of everything: A glimpse into people's perceptions of IoT privacy and security

The 'Internet of Things' (IoT) is about bringing devices, systems, data, and people together. The concept of IoT started in the 1980s and is now seen as making connections much more valuable and relevant than we have ever experienced before. For example, it provides us with access to huge amounts of information in real time, it has opened up exciting new business opportunities and it has made us more efficient and productive whilst also reducing our day-to-day costs etc. In many instances, it has been described as having hugely improved the quality of our work and personal lives. However, despite all these very vocal benefits, there are many questions around the ethical design of IoT and especially the large amounts of data being collected and processed. The authors of this chapter are interested to know how people are currently feeling about their IoT privacy and security. The research focus in this chapter is twofold: firstly, it examines people's perceptions of data and trust with a particular emphasis on data ownership and perceived rights online, and secondly, it analyses Twitter posts using the hashtags #IoT, #privacy and #security to observe what people are feeling around the concept of IoT and the impact of IoT on their lives.