IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 109

be anonymous, private data can be anonymized
before sharing if desired to protect privacy. Moreover,
the blockchain would be able to monitor data
access to ensure that the consumer's permission and
intent was being respected.
Given these potential advantages of blockchains
for strengthening the privacy and security of IoT
systems, a number of consortia and companies are
actively exploring such solutions. A December 2019
survey by Gartner found that 75% of companies that
have adopted the IoT are integrating it with blockchain
primarily to enhance data security and privacy
and another 15% of companies are planning to do
so [79]. In January 2020, the Industrial Internet Consortium
(IIC) and the Trusted IoT Alliance (TIoTA)
announced they were merging, with a primary goal
being to " promote best practices for trusted IoT systems
such as blockchain and related distributed
ledger technologies " [80].
Effective immediately, the organizations will
work together under the IIC umbrella to drive industry
collaboration and research, foster open systems
development, and promote best practices for trusted
IoT systems, such as blockchain and related distributed
ledger technologies (DLT).
There are many other companies and projects
pursuing such an integration of IoT and blockchain.
For example, the company Datum, which
describes itself as the " eBay for data, " " proposes
a network run on a secure smart contract blockchain
that allows all of its users to retake control of
their data, not just the personal and habitual data
they produce every day, but also data from the IoT
devices that they control " [81]. Consumers can volunteer
or sell any subset of their data to interested
parties off the Datum blockchain using the Datum
Token (DAT) as the unit of exchange.
Similar models are being developed by other
companies [76]. While unverified private company
claims at the leading edge of technology convergence
must be critically examined for hype or exaggeration
[82], there is no question that there has
been a large burst of innovation and investment in
applying blockchain models to address the security
and privacy challenges of IoT. These blockchain
models not only permit consumers to control who
gets access to their IoT data, but also allow them to
monetize their data by selling access, with whatever
limitations they impose as to what data is sold and
to whom.
December 2021
IBM is another company actively integrating AI,
blockchain, and IoT, with a primary focus on business
customers who want to control and protect data
collected using IoT systems more efficiently. According
to IBM, their " Watson IoT Platform enables IoT
devices to send data to private blockchain ledgers
for inclusion in shared transactions with distributed
records, maintained by consensus, and cryptographically
hashed. Blockchain's distributed replication
allows your business partners to access and supply
IoT data without the need for central control and
management " [83]. The three key benefits of using
blockchain for IoT are to: build trust between parties
and devices, reduce costs, and accelerate transactions
[83].
A number of industry use cases integrating blockchain
and IoT are under development including
supply chains, insurance, smart grids, smart home
applications, healthcare, energy trading, and connected
fleet management [75], [76], [82]. A number
of different configurations and models for how
blockchain and IoT are integrated are being experimented
with in these various industry verticals [75],
[76]. These configurations can be designed to promote
both greater IoT data security and privacy by
design for IoT data [75]. Big data and data-based
machine learning AI is the other component of the
technology convergence occurring with IoT, blockchain,
and AI [84].
The integration of blockchain, the IoT, and AI is
still in its early stages, and additional development
and testing is required [68], [84]. Some adaptations
will be necessary. For example, in a typical blockchain,
each node on the chain stores an entire copy
of the distributed ledger. These ledgers will be too
big to store on IoT devices in configurations where
the devices act as blockchain nodes, so " lightweight "
node models are being developed [76].
But beyond these technological innovations and
adjustments, new ethical and governance frameworks
will be needed to oversee this convergence
and to protect consumer privacy and data security
[82]. Such frameworks are only now beginning to
be explored in both the academic literature and
industry practice [82], [84]. Soft law governance
mechanisms, by nature of their ability to be rapidly
developed and deployed, will be critical in filling
these existing governance gaps [55].
In short, IoT best practices that set forth the different
possible models and practices for using
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021

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