Will Sidewalk Labs be kicked to the curb in Toronto? Dave Lewis takes a closer look at the controversies surrounding the Google-backed initiative
Smart cities are all the rage these days. From Singapore, Dubai, and Toronto, these so-called digital utopias are catching all of the headlines.
One such project in Toronto, Canada, has been faced with pushback. The smart city initiative, run by Sidewalk Labs and backed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has been generating a lot of concern here in Canada from a privacy perspective.
Brian Beamish says Ontario’s privacy laws have not kept pace with digital technologies and practices such as sensors, big data analytics and AI.
In his 2018 Annual Report, Privacy and Accountability for a Digital Ontario, Brian Beamish, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, recommends several initiatives to enhance access to information and protection of privacy in Ontario.
Read more: CA: Ontario: Commissioner calls for new privacy laws to address smart city risks
Barcelona’s chief technology and digital innovation officer believes the protection of personal data is a “fundamental right” for citizens.
Francesca Bria, who is the city’s top expert and adviser on policies related to technology, information and digital strategies, is a leading proponent in Europe of “data sovereignty” — ensuring that citizens, rather than big tech, get to control the way their data and the data collected in public spaces is used.
Read more: CA: What Toronto can learn from Barcelona on data and smart city projects
Google's sister company Sidewalk Labs has revealed a massive plan for investing about $990 million to build a waterfront area in Toronto, Canada into a high-tech smart city.
Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff said the company is releasing the draft Master Innovation and Development Plan for Toronto's eastern waterfront, titled "Toronto Tomorrow A New Approach for Inclusive Growth" after 18 months of preparations.
Read more: Google's sister start-up to build smart city in Canada
Bringing the Smart City to Life in Calgary
The adoption of smart city technology is helping the City of Calgary become more sustainable, connected, and efficient. The process started over 20 years ago as Calgary steadily built its municipal communication infrastructure. More recently, the City partnered with Semtech to deploy its LoRa® devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology) for connectivity combined with LoRa-enabled devices, sensors and gateways as the tools to provide data communication. Its open standards, ease of deployment, quality, software compatibility and security were all factors that led Calgary to its LoRa implementation.