Another key aspect of the security and privacy label project is that the information is also encoded to be machine readable. This way, even if different countries or industries develop their own assessment tools, there's still a way to compare and process all the data. The researchers point out that data from the labels could make it easier to search for products by their privacy and security features, creating the potential for these to be mainstream product considerations rather than niche points that are difficult for consumers to research. Ecommerce websites could even offer filters for privacy and security features like they already do for things like price, weight, or screen size. In this way, consumers could make intentional choices about the products they buy with digital safety as one of the factors.
The researchers say that they've had a lot of private sector and congressional interest in their label. But so far they've only been able to make example labels based on imaginary products or mock up labels for real products based on public data. The researchers are looking for a manufacturer to pilot the labels in a more serious way with honest information about the products.
There is real momentum toward doing these types of tests. Finland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom are all working on national IoT label programs focused on security. And while some IoT security bills have security privacy nutrition labels could
