International Journal of Law and Information Technology Advance Access published online on March 15, 2008
International Journal of Law and Information Technology, doi:10.1093/ijlit/ean001
Legal Issues in Wireless Building Automation: an EU Perspective
* Legal researcher, Interdisciplinary Center for Law & ICT, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Maya Gadzheva holds Master degrees in Law and Economics. In her research, she focuses primarily on privacy and data protection issues relating to location-based services (LBS), radio-frequency identification (RFID), ubiquitous/pervasive computing, ambient intelligence. She may be reached at E-mail: maya.gadzheva{at}gmail.com
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Abstract |
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Wireless building automation solutions promise to revolutionize home and commercial building management where fast deployment, increased building efficiency and optimal occupant comfort and convenience are top priorities. The ability to support people and/or device mobility, easy building reconfiguration, data, voice and video applications plus emerging indoor location-based services will unlock their future success. Wireless building automation systems are still at an early stage of development; however, as more and more building functions and applications are controlled electronically and wirelessly, constant occupant surveillance, tracking, personal profiling and security breaches, would raise deep concerns about the survival of privacy. Building privacy and security in the initial design should ensure that all necessary or required controls exist to protect access to and dissemination of personal information over the wireless building automation network. The applicability of the new EU regulatory framework for electronic communications and services will depend on the legal qualification of the network and services: private, public or a mixture of both.