IEEE Internet Policy Newsletter - September 2018

Leveraging data for financial inclusion in developing economies

By Cynthia Olga Kiconco Muheki

It is undeniable that over the past decade, the proliferation of the internet and ubiquity of mobile technology have drastically led to the socio-economic transformation of the African continent. Innovative business models have improved service delivery, such as solar pay as you go solutions and lifted the rural poor out of abject poverty as mobile money has been used as a conduit to drive financial inclusion. Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), argues that for every 10 percent increase in phone penetration in poor countries, productivity improves by more than four percentage points, and that a doubling in mobile-data usage increases annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per person by half a percentage point.

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Integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing: Privacy Concerns and Possible Solutions

Homomorphic cryptography to address privacy concerns

By Abdulatif Alabdulatif, Ibrahim Khalil, and Syed Hassan Ahmed

The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is revolutionizing how communities live and interact by enabling IoT devices (e.g., mobiles, sensors) to work as interconnected systems of digital and personal information. Smart grid and power systems, e-health and assisted living systems, and industrial and environmental monitoring are the major application areas that stand to gain from the growth of IoT.

By 2020, it is estimated there will be about 20 billion IoT connected devices in the world. This increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices brings with it increased privacy concerns. In such systems, tremendous amounts of sensitive data are generated, stored and processed—and it is becoming more complex and challenging to protect such data. Cloud computing has massive resources and can play a vital role in the storage and management of IoT data. It can provide real-time IoT-based services in a distributed and effective manner. Figure 1 shows various IoT-based applications that can take advantage of integration with cloud computing.

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Brazil’s “GDPR” Sanctioned with Extraterritorial Effects

By Renato Opice Blum and Camila Rioja

The Brazilian House of Representatives approved the Brazilian data protection draft bill (PL 53/2018) on May 29, 2018, due to an agreement reached by the Reporting Deputy. Following the Brazilian legislative procedure, the draft bill was forwarded to the Senate for analysis and sanctioned by the President as of August 14, 2018. The draft bill is an important landmark in Brazilian history, and it draws inspiration from the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The law will come into force 18 months after its publication, which is the deadline for companies to comply with the General Data Protection Law (LGPD). It may seem like a long time, but—considering all that needs to be done—it is actually a limited time-frame.

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Li-Fi: Part 2—Opportunities and Barriers

By Rebecca Kizer, Alex Mantica, Nate McNeill, Joseph Tobin and Stephen Jones

Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) technology brings many opportunities due to its ability to transmit data at high rates and in new environments. However, along with these opportunities come challenges due to the limitations of Li-Fi technology.

Li-Fi: An Overview-Part1 described how the technology works: incorporating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) pulsating to provide the ‘on-off’ binary function to transmit data; deployment considerations; and modulation schemes to maximize data throughput.

Li-Fi technology can currently be applied to two main environments: indoor communications and cellular communications. In the indoor communications environment, data sharing can take place between devices such as desktop and laptop computers, printers, televisions, and cell phones through the visible spectrum, which is currently unlicensed, highly dense, free to utilize, and free from radio frequency noise. For the cellular communications environment, wireless cellular communications can be extended to include visible light communication (VLC) to decrease the congestion of the radio frequency spectrum.

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