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Netherlands Gets First Nationwide 'Internet of Things' (phys.org)
An anonymous reader writes: The Netherlands has become the first country in the world to implement a nationwide long-range (LoRa) network for the Internet of Things, says Dutch telecoms group KPN on Thursday. "As from today the KPN LoRa network is available throughout The Netherlands," KPN said in a statement. Phys.Org reports: "The rollout of a low data rate (LoRa) mobile communications network is critical to connect objects as many may not be able to link up with home or work Wi-Fi networks to gain Internet access. The LoRa network is complementary to KPN's networks for the 2G, 3G and 4G phones. KPN has already reached deals to connect some 1.5 million objects, a number which should steadily grow now that the LoRa network is available across the country. Tests are being carried out at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam -- one of Europe's busiest air hubs -- for baggage handling. Meanwhile in the Utrecht rail station an experiment is under way to allow LoRa to monitor rail switches."
This only works as long as not everybody is doing it. The moment that happens, the manufacturers will make the device broken unless you connect it to the internet all the time. The device will open one connection, only one: to the manufacturer. It'll be TLS encrypted and will use public key pinning. All the traffic the device will cause will go through that connection.
No firewall will help against that.
Except they won't. This is a technology not unlike Television and the Internet. The IoT revolution in the personal space is about gathering your personal data, but guess what, no one is going to roll out a nation wide network so that someone can read your thermostat.
This is a good example of practical IoT, not this bastardised thing about lightswitches and toasters which the unwashed are convinced is all there is about it. We're talking massive amounts of useful sensor data that can now be connected just as before ... except without SIM cards, without taking up resources on local mobile phone systems and without the incredible battery drain and big solar panels that current devices have.
Before everyone freaks out about what an invasion of privacy this is, remember that IoT is just a rebranded way of saying "sensor network" and all those fancy new technologies behind them are nothing more than reading those sensors in a way that consumes much less power than before.