Consumer protection in the digital age: USI speaks about product hazardization at the United Nations

Francesco Regazzoni, researcher at the USI Faculty of Informatics, was invited in July to speak at a side meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy of the United Nations, in Geneva. During the meeting, Regazzoni dealt in particular with the subject of product hazardization, with a focus on the Internet of Things (IoT).

The goal of the speech was to address the group of experts and provide and initial discussion on the opportunity to implement a specific legislation in that field. The pervasive diffusion of products which can evolve (by updates or installations of apps) create new issues for customers, which might face the situation of purchasing a safe product which then becomes hazardous, ranging from the common air conditioning malfunctionings, to road accidents or malfunctioning of fire detection systems.

“In order to provide effective recommendations” – commented Regazzoni – “I believe it is crucial to have a correct and accurate knowledge of the so-called 'cyber-physical system', how they are designed, how they evolve, and which one are the security issues, These systems, used in many tasks of our everyday lives subject of both research and study at the Master in Cyber-Physical and Embedded Systems".

For more information on the USI study curricula in Informatics here