Consumer Reports, along with Carnegie Mellon University, Public Knowledge, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and New York University, filed comments on the FCC’s proposed plan to develop a Cyber Trust Mark and information label for Internet of Things devices. The groups believe that the FCC’s program can increase consumer trust in IoT products and help protect U.S. networks and sites from cyber attacks, including botnet attacks and that can take critical infrastructure. The groups made a number of specific recommendations on the technical implementation of the labeling program, including:
- Clear processes for the handling of complaints from consumers and researchers;
- Robust enforcement against companies that misuse the mark or otherwise provide inaccurate information in a label;
- Provide public transparency around applications to use the mark; and
- Provide specific information within the label itself, including information about sensors, data sharing, and security practices.