Internet of Things

There is no generally accepted de­f­i­n­i­tion of the term 'internet of things' (shortened to IoT) yet. There are many different de­f­i­n­i­tions, which differ greatly from one another. What most de­f­i­n­i­tions have in common, however, is that they call the com­pre­hen­sive online net­work­ing of everyday objects and in­dus­tri­al machines the 'internet of things'. Relevant devices receive a unique identity (address) on the network and can perform tasks au­to­mat­i­cal­ly. This means, for example, that simple objects can com­mu­ni­cate with each other around the clock and don’t have to depend on humans to control them. Sometimes equipped with only simple sensors and proces­sors, and connected via network tech­nol­o­gy, they collect in­for­ma­tion about their en­vi­ron­ment, evaluate it, and pass data on to other networked things.

Con­se­quent­ly, the internet of things is by no means limited to complex high-tech household ap­pli­ances or self-driving cars. There are many other uses: Internet-com­pat­i­ble clothing and fitness wrist­bands could monitor the user’s health and pass on the measured values directly to their doctor for eval­u­a­tion, for example. In agri­cul­ture, moisture sensors could send in­for­ma­tion about the crops’ water and nutrient needs to a  cloud. As you can see, the ap­pli­ca­tion prop­er­ties are extremely varied.

The internet of things is closely linked to a number of tech­no­log­i­cal de­vel­op­ments and is strongly related to concepts such as ubiq­ui­tous computing and AI (Ar­ti­fi­cial In­tel­li­gence) An essential feature is that IoT can turn ordinary objects into devices. They are iden­ti­fi­able via an IP address, record states of things via sensors, and use chips as storage capacity. Built-in mini computers mean that they can control them­selves, govern their en­vi­ron­ments, and exchange data au­to­mat­i­cal­ly. Sometimes they learn via machine learning recognize patterns, gen­er­al­ize them, and draw con­clu­sions to adapt to sit­u­a­tions and con­tin­u­ous­ly optimize them­selves. Even simple radio tech­nol­o­gy such as RFID or Bluetooth is enough to convert physical objects into a trans­mit­ter-receiver system. Using more complex com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nol­o­gy such as 4G, connected devices can transmit large amounts of data to a cloud or other IoT device over long distances without in­ter­fer­ence.

The internet of things can help itself to various tech­nolo­gies. Although there is no universal de­f­i­n­i­tion of the term, the following char­ac­ter­is­tics are commonly as­so­ci­at­ed with IoT.

• Col­lec­tion, storage, and data pro­cess­ing (example: a ther­mo­stat au­to­mat­i­cal­ly measures the room tem­per­a­ture)
• Com­mu­ni­ca­tion with each other (directly or via a cloud, for example)
• Net­work­ing (e.g. via Bluetooth con­nec­tion to the internet)
• Ubiquity (networked devices are used almost every­where)
• Self-reg­u­la­tion (certain actions/scenarios trigger a reaction without having to be triggered manually e.g. an electric cooker goes into stand-by mode after the food has reached the desired tem­per­a­ture)
• Learning ability (e.g. an internet-com­pat­i­ble lamp analyzes the desired light intensity and adjusts it later on)

If you want to un­der­stand the principle behind the internet of things, you have to deal with its tech­no­log­i­cal foun­da­tions. Both long-es­tab­lished and newer in­for­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies the­o­ret­i­cal­ly make the internet of things possible. However, for a wide­spread network to become a reality, certain tech­nolo­gies would need to be further developed.

To fully connect devices, transfer, and evaluate data quickly and easily, and to solve the big data problem, you first need to overcome a few problems. IoT requires an extremely powerful mobile internet, which could cope with the immense volume of data that goes hand in hand with the extensive net­work­ing of machines and a wide variety of everyday devices.

For this reason, many de­vel­op­ers are placing a lot of hope in the new 5G gen­er­a­tion of mobile phones, which exceeds the old standards in terms of data rate per second many times over. This article explains what you can expect from the 5G gen­er­a­tion. 5G isn’t expected to be released until 2020, but many companies have already started investing and preparing for the new system.

Simple means such as RFID and QR codes are suf­fi­cient to identify objects, collect in­for­ma­tion about physical statuses, and feed it into a network. This is already the case, for example, with the parcel tracking of logistics service providers and in inventory control. 

When it comes to au­to­mat­i­cal­ly eval­u­at­ing complex data and managing them­selves, these things must have the ap­pro­pri­ate hardware. This is im­ple­ment­ed according to the M2M principle (machine to machine). M2M refers to a trans­mit­ter-receiver system for the automated exchange of in­for­ma­tion between two devices – it consists of different com­po­nents and could look like this in the logistics industry for the remote device man­age­ment:

• Trans­mit­ter or end point – example: shelf picker with motion sensory transmits GPS signals
• Trans­mis­sion tech­nol­o­gy – wireless networks such as UMTS, HSPA, LTE, 5G
• Receiver or data in­te­gra­tion point – example: a logistics company’s server in­ter­prets the technical pa­ra­me­ters of the machine (that is to be monitored) as an error message
• In­ter­me­di­ate ap­pli­ca­tion – example: API (Ap­pli­ca­tion Pro­gram­ming Interface) supports networked receiver machine when it comes to eval­u­at­ing data and trig­ger­ing actions

The following elements belong to the technical ar­chi­tec­ture of the internet of things

• Sensors: Everyday objects or devices equipped with sensors e.g. that detect physical or chemical con­di­tions. They measure tem­per­a­ture, pressure, bright­ness, humidity, pH, or movement. For the mea­sure­ment results to be used digitally, they are trans­lat­ed into elec­tri­cal signals. This is how a smart­phone’s bright­ness sensor measures the light intensity of its sur­round­ings. With this in­for­ma­tion, the display can adapt to the level of light.
   
• RFID (radio frequency iden­ti­fi­ca­tion): This tech­nol­o­gy enables con­tact­less iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of an object using elec­tro­mag­net­ic waves. For a reader to recognize and locate the object, it is given an RFID tag and a unique code. RFID systems have a range of up to 100 meters. One ap­pli­ca­tion example is the logistics industry, in which con­tain­ers can be better located during shipment when using RFID.
   
• Location tech­nolo­gies: GPS, WLAN, and Bluetooth cover even longer distances and transmit more in­for­ma­tion. This is how a smart­phone can display the nearest location when searching for a restau­rant, for example.
   
• Wireless networks: A large-scale internet of things requires more than near-field com­mu­ni­ca­tion and the short trans­mis­sion paths that WLAN has to offer. The most important trans­mis­sion tech­nolo­gies are based on mobile radio with the standards: 3G (UMTS), and 4G (LTE), but this isn’t in­stan­ta­neous. For high data volumes and real-time trans­mis­sion, a newer gen­er­a­tion is required. In the future, the following standards are likely to promote net­work­ing:
   
  • 5G: The fifth gen­er­a­tion of wireless com­mu­ni­ca­tion standards rep­re­sents a major leap forward: 5G manages 10,000 megabits per second. This makes it a hundred times faster than LTE. In terms of capacity, it out­per­forms LTE a thousand times over. Most ap­pli­ca­tions can work in real time via 5G. For example, 5G is the pre­req­ui­site for self-driving cars in smart cities. In addition, even the large data packets of full HD films can be loaded quickly via 5G.
     
  • Nar­row­Band IoT (NB IoT): This radio tech­nol­o­gy is also an in­no­va­tion. Although it transmits only small amounts of data, it has other ad­van­tages. Thanks to its high signal strength, it also reaches places that are difficult to access i.e. un­der­ground receivers or devices in fa­cil­i­ties with thick walls. The tech­nol­o­gy works extremely energy-ef­fi­cient­ly and over a long time. It could be used by municipal utilities to control heating systems in basements that are not supplied with elec­tric­i­ty ex­ter­nal­ly, or to control street lighting remotely.
     
• Cloud: These virtual storage and data pro­cess­ing networks are also essential for the in­fra­struc­ture of a large-scale Internet of things. The cloud enables, for example, the storage of networked objects to be out­sourced or their storage capacity to be increased.
   
• Embedded computing: Mi­cro­proces­sors and slim computer systems only work together with other devices. For this purpose, they do not require a lot of hardware and software and can be used for turning even small everyday objects into self-con­trol­ling systems.

The internet of things could make all areas of our lives easier. The prospect of a more com­fort­able everyday life, a more efficient economy and ad­min­is­tra­tion, safer roads, a more en­vi­ron­men­tal­ly friendly energy supply, and a healthier lifestyle is driving its de­vel­op­ment forward. Automatic coffee machines, in­dus­tri­al pro­duc­tion that responds promptly to demand, self-driving vehicles, and fitness wrist­bands that detect illnesses and report them straight­away – the pos­si­bil­i­ties cover a wide variety of areas of life. Based on the data collected by the networked machines, many ac­tiv­i­ties can be better planned. Es­pe­cial­ly in com­bi­na­tion with AI systems, objects networked via IoT function more reliably and, above all, faster than humans.

In the medical sector, the internet of things could make it possible to collect patient data, make accurate diagnoses, and monitor their health around the clock – people wouldn’t even have to see a doctor in many cases.

Internet-com­pat­i­ble things, which con­stant­ly exchange in­for­ma­tion with each other and are capable of learning, can predict risks without human in­ter­ven­tion. They can then intervene in a reg­u­la­to­ry manner and optimize processes. Machines that can maintain them­selves or plan real-time pro­duc­tion processes in factories save time and money. Self-con­trol­ling heaters or sensors, which report the exact water and fer­til­iz­er re­quire­ments in agri­cul­ture, also ensure a more en­vi­ron­men­tal­ly friendly and efficient use of resources.

With an expanding digital in­fra­struc­ture, this could result in a so­phis­ti­cat­ed, wide-meshed system in the future that covers all sectors and areas of life and even regulates itself.

The rev­o­lu­tion of everyday life though the internet of things is yet to come. How IoT can change our lives has only been imagined so far. After all, not everyone already lives in a smart home or uses wearable tech­nol­o­gy. In­no­va­tions such as automated cash register systems, in­tel­li­gent sur­veil­lance cameras, and self-con­trol­ling factories, on the other hand, are almost invisible in everyday life or operate in the back­ground. A com­pre­hen­sive internet of things would mean that we are con­stant­ly sur­round­ed by computer systems that collect data and exchange in­for­ma­tion via the internet. If devices like these are used at home, they could interfere with our privacy.

A smart home can have numerous ad­van­tages for residents: Based on personal and activity-related data, it acts proac­tive­ly and fa­cil­i­tates various everyday processes. Household ap­pli­ances regulate them­selves and do not need to be con­trolled. A stove that turns itself off or an au­to­mat­i­cal­ly closing apartment door provide more security and peace of mind.

Many networked devices can also respond to be­hav­ioral patterns: A fitness wristband spurs the user on and en­cour­ages a healthy lifestyle by alerting them when it detects a lack of movement. However, human needs aren’t 100% pre­dictable. What if this tech­nol­o­gy starts to dictate our lifestyle? For example, how will health in­sur­ances work out their tariffs in the future if they gain insight into a person’s personal fitness program and it doesn’t meet their health policy standards? These questions are not only being asked by ethical experts. IT experts are also dis­cussing potential downsides of the IoT and are con­sid­er­ing a ‘Hip­po­crat­ic Oath’ for software de­vel­op­ers.

One thing is certain: the smart home devices already available are quite practical. An example of this is the adaptive radiator ther­mo­stat from Nest, a company acquired by Google. It memorizes residents’ heating habits and au­to­mat­i­cal­ly regulates the tem­per­a­ture. An in­te­grat­ed motion detector senses when residents are home and switches off the heating when they are absent. This saves heating costs, conserves energy resources, and makes life more com­fort­able. If the residents come home early, they can pre-heat the apartment before arriving.

IoT in­no­va­tions that have already been tested in some cities give an idea of what is possible in the public sector in the fore­see­able future. If these were to be used worldwide, the internet of things could make the transport sector, road traffic, waste col­lec­tion, and many other things a lot more efficient. A complete in­fra­struc­ture of networked street lamps, waste con­tain­ers, traffic lights, and building façades could be created that use sensors to collect data.

In the Spanish city of Santander, the smart city is no longer a vision of the future. Thousands of sensors measure traffic in the narrow streets of the city center. An app informs residents about the traffic situation and can even guide them to the nearest empty parking space. In Amsterdam, in­tel­li­gent street lamps provide the right light intensity. If there are no pedes­tri­ans or cars nearby, they turn them­selves off. This reduces light pollution and saves energy.

What is IoT? What does ‘industry 4.0’ mean? Following the impact of the steam engine, conveyor belt, and dig­i­tal­iza­tion on the in­dus­tri­al sector, the internet of things is driving a fourth in­dus­tri­al rev­o­lu­tion. Smart factories, whose fa­cil­i­ties organize the entire pro­duc­tion process them­selves, are already heralding a new era. Factories like these speed up pro­duc­tion, increase ef­fi­cien­cy, and save costs. In a networked factory, for example, materials equipped with RFID chips report which machine is re­spon­si­ble for the next pro­cess­ing step. Using sensors, machines indicate when con­di­tions are critical. To ensure that every process runs as smoothly as possible, they report when there’s need for materials and repairs.

The internet of things is suitable for op­ti­miz­ing all pro­duc­tion phases of a product. It could also perfect all the services involved – from product de­vel­op­ment and marketing, to delivery and recycling. Self-learning machines connected to each other also enable better responses to in­di­vid­ual customer re­quire­ments. To man­u­fac­ture per­son­al­ized products, human in­spec­tion or a system mod­i­fi­ca­tion isn’t required every time. This already makes a dif­fer­ence, even for smaller quan­ti­ties – Adidas produces per­son­al­ized sports shoes this way.

The internet of things also has potential in the marketing sector. For example, retailers benefit from location-based targeting. So-called iBeacons send signals to smart­phones that inform users about special offers or let direct buyers know about organic products available with links to relevant offers. Internet-com­pat­i­ble vending machines can report when a row is empty or the machine is damaged. If sensors can measure summer tem­per­a­tures, the prices for beverages can be adjusted au­to­mat­i­cal­ly when a higher demand is expected.

Another example are the smart bottles from whiskey man­u­fac­tur­er Johnnie Walker. These bottles com­mu­ni­cate with the buyer’s mobile phone via NFC (Near Field Com­mu­ni­ca­tion). Sensors attached to the label on the bottle collect in­for­ma­tion. This way, the company can track the supply chain and the whole customer journey. The sensors register whether the bottle is closed or has been opened. Depending on this in­for­ma­tion, the buyer receives product in­for­ma­tion or tips on how to enjoy the product via their mobile phone. This creates an ad­di­tion­al buying incentive and improves the product ex­pe­ri­ence. The networked objects are then capable of col­lect­ing and linking data through­out the product’s entire lifecycle. Taking obtained consumer data into account, they can transmit relevant ad­ver­tis­ing messages.

The economic potential of the internet of things is also huge. According to a study by McKinsey (a summary can be found here as a PDF), IoT could bring in $11.1 trillion by 2025.

However, industry 4.0 is also as­so­ci­at­ed with a number of risks: Com­pre­hen­sive net­work­ing offers hackers numerous points of attack and increases the risk of data breaches and in­dus­tri­al espionage. If pro­duc­tion processes and main­te­nance are delegated to machines, this replaces humans as the labor force. This applies not only to mo­not­o­nous and dangerous jobs, but also to jobs with which many people currently earn their living.

Experts are still divided on what areas and to what extent IoT will change the world of em­ploy­ment. On the one hand, dig­i­tal­iza­tion creates new jobs, and smart devices are more likely to be used as as­sis­tants to humans rather than take over their jobs. On the other hand, some econ­o­mists expect that industry 4.0 will be ac­com­pa­nied by a com­pre­hen­sive ra­tio­nal­iza­tion of jobs. Economist Andrew McAfee, a re­searcher at the pres­ti­gious Mass­a­chu­setts Institute of Tech­nol­o­gy (MIT), estimates that by mid-century, ap­prox­i­mate­ly half of all currently-existing jobs will be cut. A similar con­clu­sion was reached in a study conducted by Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty.

The internet of things will also rev­o­lu­tion­ize health­care. Wearable tech­nol­o­gy measures important medical pa­ra­me­ters – if heart rhythm or glycemic index readings are unusual, it sets off an alarm in heart patients or diabetics. This is one pre­ven­ta­tive way to use IoT. IoT also takes di­ag­nos­tic pro­ce­dures to a new level. Internet-com­pat­i­ble medical devices also improve inpatient and out­pa­tient care.

Pre­ven­ta­tive IoT devices monitor body tem­per­a­ture, analyze the res­pi­ra­to­ry rate, analyze the chemical com­po­si­tion of sweat, and generate an ECG – the­o­ret­i­cal­ly possible around the clock. Wearable tech­nol­o­gy with sensors (i.e. wrist­bands and clothing, tooth­brush­es, or smart­phones) that analyze saliva form the foun­da­tion of these permanent check-ups. Chron­i­cal­ly ill patients can es­pe­cial­ly benefit from important body functions being regularly monitored. This can save lives in an emergency. If an anomaly is detected, but you know there’s nothing to worry about, un­nec­es­sary ap­point­ments with spe­cial­ists or a trip to the ER can be spared. Serious illnesses that slowly creep up on the patient can be detected early on, in­creas­ing the risk of suc­cess­ful treatment.

Fitness trackers measure the steps and calorie con­sump­tion of users and aim to prevent obesity and lack of exercise. Networked devices appeal to self-re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and promote a healthy lifestyle. This pays off in the long term, benefits the health system, and permits greater in­vest­ments in medical research, for example.

Whether vol­un­tar­i­ly at home or for research: Networked things expand the pos­si­bil­i­ties of col­lect­ing and eval­u­at­ing medically-relevant data over a long time. If the data can be passed on anony­mous­ly by wearable tech­nol­o­gy and collected outside of the ar­ti­fi­cial lab­o­ra­to­ry, companies can obtain high-quality data through which reliable hy­pothe­ses on detecting diseases early on can be derived. In this respect, the internet of things also improves di­ag­nos­tic pro­ce­dures.

Medical devices equipped with ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence could also provide more precise results. Fur­ther­more, they can check symptoms in seconds and filter through a variety of potential diseases, use the elec­tron­ic health record to include a patient’s medical history and previous lab­o­ra­to­ry results, and compare them with sta­tis­ti­cal­ly cal­cu­lat­ed patterns of patients of the same age and gender. All this can be done much faster than by humans – and with fewer mistakes.

A stay in a hospital isn’t necessary for every illness. The internet of things helps to ad­e­quate­ly care for patients in an en­vi­ron­ment familiar to them and to monitor their condition from there. After all, most people feel most com­fort­able in their own four walls. Elderly people generally want to maintain their in­de­pen­dence and are reluctant to move into a re­tire­ment home. Wearable tech­nol­o­gy that measures body signals could be used to monitor their health instead. There are also clothes available on the market that can make emergency calls. Another invention is carpets equipped with fall detectors, which call for help if they sense that someone has fallen and can’t get up. There are also med­ica­tion dis­pensers connected to the network, which control tablet intake – another example of use in the health or care sector.

In clinics, the internet of things serves, above all, to optimize processes, and increase patient safety and hygiene. Networked med­ica­tion dis­pensers prevent mix-ups and sensors report any con­t­a­m­i­na­tion that might have occurred.

The internet of things comes with both op­por­tu­ni­ties and risks. Many experts see the IoT primarily as a threat to privacy. In addition, there is still no clear concept for reliably pro­tect­ing sensitive data against hackers and misuse.

Networked household ap­pli­ances, self-driving cars, and smart fitness wrist­bands con­tin­u­ous­ly collect data in all areas of life. This is no longer just about data on surfing behavior, but also in­for­ma­tion that has not yet been evaluated to a great extent by any other tech­nol­o­gy. In summary, they form an exact per­son­al­i­ty profile and can also provide in­for­ma­tion about the health status of the re­spec­tive users.

This fact angers those fighting for data pro­tec­tion who try to warn others about the dangers of mass sur­veil­lance. Even if the data was made anonymous and couldn’t be assigned to specific users, con­clu­sions could still be drawn about the habits and behaviors of certain pop­u­la­tion groups. Data pro­tec­tion­ists fear a sur­veil­lance system on an Orwellian scale could occur if states are able to access all this in­for­ma­tion. Human rights would be even more threat­ened than they are now.

On the other hand, lots of companies have an economic interest in col­lect­ing com­pre­hen­sive data. Many companies such as Google, Amazon, and Apple already compete for market lead­er­ship in the field of IoT devices. With the help of per­son­al­ized data, companies can provide customers with tailor-made offers and better adapt to their needs. However, using the data pro­tec­tion settings, consumers can only control which data an IoT device forwards to the man­u­fac­tur­er and its partner companies to a limited extent.

Legal reg­u­la­tions may prevent personal data from being ex­ten­sive­ly collected. However, es­pe­cial­ly when dealing with complex ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence, users are finding it in­creas­ing­ly difficult to un­der­stand and control how IT ap­pli­ca­tions collect, store, and process data. It is therefore difficult to configure the data pro­tec­tion settings optimally. If consumers use several IoT devices si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly every day, they can quickly lose track of the situation. It’s hard to know which data is used by which provider and for which purpose.

For this reason, data pro­tec­tion­ists warn that a person’s right to choose which in­for­ma­tion to reveal is in danger. A recent in­ter­na­tion­al study by the Global Privacy En­force­ment Network revealed that 60% of internet of things devices don’t tell customers how their personal in­for­ma­tion is being used. GPEN looked at more than 300 devices during this study and now services that have been breaking data pro­tec­tion laws may have action taken against them.

An even more serious situation is the fact that data pro­tec­tors estimate that hardly any con­vinc­ing security solutions have been developed so far. This makes the internet of things vul­ner­a­ble to hacker attacks and data theft. With so many different devices connected to one another, it increases the security risk, as data can be leaked more easily. Cyber criminals can easily access sensitive data such as private photos, credit card numbers, and e-mail account passwords.

Due to extensive net­work­ing, many devices con­tin­u­ous­ly exchange data. This makes the internet of things vul­ner­a­ble in many areas and sus­cep­ti­ble to ma­nip­u­la­tion. If a few objects are connected to each other, it is easier to hack several devices at once from a single interface. For example, hackers can use an electric stove (which starts to preheat au­to­mat­i­cal­ly as soon as the occupant enters their smart home in the evening and passes through the au­to­mat­i­cal­ly unlocking apartment door) to gain control of the door and alarm system. An IT company recently ex­per­i­ment­ed and hacked a Samsung re­frig­er­a­tor, which meant they could access the passwords for the owner’s Google account.

However, hackers are not only able to access data, but are able to gain access to hacked devices connected to IoT and control them. This was confirmed by security re­searchers when they were in­ves­ti­gat­ing the networked Jeep Cherokee from Fiat Chrysler: After seizing the car using an interface, they were able to control the brakes and steering wheel from a distance.

Some security experts warn that, in a fully networked world, factories, water utilities, and nuclear power plants are not 100% safe from this kind of ma­nip­u­la­tion. However, these are the worst-case scenarios that focus solely on the potential dangers of the internet of things. The good news is that the voices calling for more security and increased data pro­tec­tion are getting louder – and they are certainly being con­sid­ered by de­vel­op­ers. For example, work is already underway on a router app able to control the action of networked household ap­pli­ances and prevent unnatural data traffic.

Not only targeted cy­ber­at­tacks are a danger for IoT devices, but also pro­gram­ming errors. Critics of the internet of things point to the risk of users relying too much on a seemingly flawless tech­nol­o­gy that controls itself. What if a bug causes a device in a networked doctor’s office to overlook something important during diagnosis and then results in the wrong med­ica­tion being pre­scribed? In addition, smart cities require a complex in­fra­struc­ture with thousands of sensors. To prevent errors in the system, it would have to be regularly main­tained and checked by humans.

How does IoT change digital society? Dis­cus­sions on this topic also cover the topic of net neu­tral­i­ty. This is due to the internet of things’ un­der­ly­ing tech­nol­o­gy. The future mobile radio standard 5G is planning for so-called network slicing. This divides the mobile internet into virtual network segments, each of which is dedicated to different ap­pli­ca­tions and transfers data at different speeds. This results in a flexible 5G network that, for example, treats voice ap­pli­ca­tions dif­fer­ent­ly to video streaming and does not process them at the same time.

Sup­port­ers of network slicing emphasize that this is necessary to cope with the high volume of data and ensure real-time trans­mis­sion. If all data packages were treated equally, ap­pli­ca­tions that generate large amounts of data and require a real-time response would not work properly. A self-driving car that has to brake quickly must therefore have a higher priority than a shopping reminder.

Critics of network slicing recognize this as an attack on network neu­tral­i­ty. The internet, as we know it up to now, would no longer exist, as certain things would be given pref­er­ence. In addition, it would be con­ceiv­able for companies to associate pri­or­i­ti­za­tion with higher costs. Those opposed to network slicing fear that this restricts consumers. In addition, it could also jeop­ar­dize free com­pe­ti­tion in the digital economy, for example, by giving pref­er­ence to companies that are doing ok for them­selves, which could mean that startups suffer.

However, if de­vel­op­ers had taken into account the warning voices when setting up the internet of things, the positive effects of this new tech­nol­o­gy on everyday life could be immense.