Internet of Things... A European Prophecy

This just out from the European Commission: "Internet of Things: an action plan for Europe".

My apologies to the authors, but it seems to be a recital of various technological innovations concerned with RFID and the semantic web, attempting to link them to various pet EC initiatives in vague, mystical terms under a Pythonesque EU slogan. It concludes:

"As this document has described, IoT is not yet a tangible reality, but rather a prospective vision of a number of technologies that, combined together, could in the coming 5 to 15 years drastically modify the way our societies function."

Rather reminds me of this:

I guess it's all an attempt to put governments at the centre of the innovation process. What that will do to innovation is anyone's guess. Bizarrely, I see the EC is already requiring an opt-in before your milk can tell your fridge that it's past its use-by date. Lest you be "taken unawares by the new technology."

Please facilitate, don't regulate. You will only slow the pace of innovation.