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Comment and Technology

Why the UK’s grand plan to stop gadgets turning against us is flawed

Internet-connected gizmos from kettles to TVs are an underestimated security risk. But the UK government’s response ignores the biggest risk – ourselves, says Chris Stokel-Walker

By Chris Stokel-Walker

2 May 2019

A coffee-maker

Wake up and smell the coffee: is it watching you while you watch it?

Onfokus/Getty

You can sleep easy in your bed tonight, knowing that the kettle in your kitchen is no longer plotting to take over the world.

That’s what the UK government would have its citizens believe, anyway. On 1 May, it announced plans for – the gadgets and gizmos that together make up the internet of things (IoT).

The legislation, if introduced following a five-week consultation, will introduce a new labelling scheme, meant to assure buyers that any product given the…

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