Internet Of Bodies: Digital Content Directive, And Beyond

Abstract

“Internet of Bodies” (IoB) is the new frontier of digital technologies challenging our lives as individuals and as a society. The European Union has not yet set up a coherent and complete regulatory framework dealing with the “Internet of Everything”. This paper aims at describing the possible implications of the new technologies in search for responsible legal reactions. After defining IoB and some uncomfortable problems raised by it, the paper faces the topic of what can law and policy do in order to provide a set of rules adequate for supporting sustainable data-driven technologies. The current legal framework is essentially designed by the Digital Content Directive, the Product Liability Directive and the product safety legislation framed into a multilevel layout, as set up by the New Legislative Framework and by the European Standardization System. The article argues that it is within this regulatory framework that new technologies should be controlled, although a substantial institutional revision of co-regulation in the light of plurality and transparency is still desirable.