According to the United Nations, two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050. Then we are talking about nearly 6.5 billion people. To ensure the living and working environment in cities, urban developers and technologists are turning to smart technologies. Smart technologies depend on data. This data is often personal or confidential in nature. In smart cities, we also see cameras with facial recognition and sensors that can track us everywhere. What does the inexorable advance of the smart city mean for our data protection and privacy?
Smart cities use data, algorithms and technology to manage and control the city. In these data-driven cities, sensors and devices connect to improve daily life. Think sensors in trash cans that tell you when a trash can needs to be emptied.
In the Netherlands, we do not yet have any real smart cities. However, there are several smart city projects in the Netherlands. For example, the city of Utrecht and Amersfoort measure the city's air quality with sensors. In Eindhoven, sensors have even been installed in an entertainment street to increase street safety. However, the sound sensor is still struggling to distinguish between an enthusiastic bachelor party and a brawl. Most cities choose to start small and roll out their smart city project in parts.
Smart cities lean heavily on ICT and the Internet of Things (IoT), or the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things includes all "smart" devices that can be connected to the Internet. Examples of these devices include: a webcam, baby monitor, smartwatch, printer, smart speakers, and so on. More and more of these devices are constantly connected to the Internet and are constantly sending data to users.
These technologies have many manifestations. It includes high-speed, low-cost connectivity, big data analytics and artificial intelligence, with smart sensors and the IoT at its foundation. Market researcher Orbis Research predicts that by the year 2022 the IoT will be worth, converted, a sloppy 200 billion euros.
The IoT generates and uses a lot of data. In smart cities, the IoT has several areas of application. We give you some examples of applications so you can get a better idea of the scope of the IoT.
Smart homes, or smart homes, basically revolve around the integration of various technologies. Various devices in the home are connected to each other. To turn the lights on or off, for example, all you have to do is give your digital assistant a voice command. Smart devices are increasing in popularity and becoming more commonplace in our homes. In 2018, 36 percent of households had a smart device in their home. By 2020, the figure was already 42 percent. Meanwhile, half of Dutch households have one or more smart home products in their homes.
The data collected by smart devices is used to enhance our living comfort. We use the smart products to remind us of appointments, control the temperature in our home and keep a grip on our energy consumption. These devices, and the data they collect, are normally linked to an app and communicate through a cloud server. In other words, they are not part of a closed system.
Worldwide, there are a number of initiatives that use smart technology to solve congestion problems and make (inner) cities cleaner. Barcelona, for example, has the iCity Project. Smart parking is part of the project, where drivers can quickly and easily find a parking spot by using an app, instead of driving around endlessly looking for a spot. This helps combat traffic congestion. However, the app allows a driver to be linked to a specific location, namely the parking spot.
As the population in cities grows, so does the problem of energy management. Smart electricity grids and smart meters are indispensable to optimize energy consumption in smart cities (and beyond). In 2006, the European Union (EU) launched a smart electricity plan. The EU wants to eventually replace all electricity meters with smart meters. A smart meter collects data on energy consumption per household, including peaks and troughs in consumption.
Of course, a smart city cannot do without smart buildings equipped with all kinds of smart and "green" technologies. Copenhagen wants to be the world's first carbon-neutral city by 2025. The Danish capital wants to achieve that goal by equipping buildings with smart technologies, making them extremely energy efficient.
Smart buildings are also equipped with IoT devices, which communicate with each other. Linked to a user ID, these types of devices can control access to certain parts of the building. For example, they can grant access to the elevator and even prepare the cup of coffee from the vending machine to your liking. All of this is monitored and managed using cloud servers.
Because our personal data is at the heart of our smart cities, our privacy is at risk. When it comes to privacy, it is important that users have clear visibility into the data being stored, and that users know how and what the data is being used for. Following are some concerns around privacy expressed by experts in the field.
Technologies that use facial recognition to identify residents have several, often important, applications. For example, it helps police and prosecutors in crime prevention and in identifying and prosecuting suspects. However, the same technology can also be used to track "innocent" citizens.
China, for example, has come under fire for using facial recognition to detect and track ethnic minorities. As soon as a member of one of these groups crosses a particular border, authorities are notified.
Several organizations are concerned about the privacy implications of smart meters. A smart meter is an energy meter connected to the IoT. This meter collects data about a household's energy consumption. Energy suppliers can use this smart meter to advise residents about their energy consumption. The independent research institute EPIC has found 14 possible ways smart meters can violate privacy, including identity theft and "profiling.
Of course, a smart home in a smart city cannot exist without a digital, or virtual assistant, that understands our voice commands. By 2022, smart assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home will be helpful to residents in more than 300 million households. But our digital assistants can also watch and listen in. The smart assistants are spying on us, without our awareness. For example, the microphone of your handy smart speaker is constantly active. This is necessary to receive commands, but this ensures that someone is always "listening in.
In addition, smart devices often connect to each other or to the Internet. This allows them to exchange information. This, too, can pose a great risk to your privacy.
Cars are getting smarter, and many new cars are already taking many tasks off the driver's hands. These are already small steps in the development toward a fully self-driving car.
The development of 5G offers great opportunities for the self-driving car in the smart city. A self-driving car depends on sensors such as laser scanners, radars and cameras. This is necessary so that the car sees what is happening around it. The self-driving car continuously exposes large amounts of information. This (privacy-sensitive) information can be used for various purposes.
The smart city raises all sorts of ethical issues. Who has access to the data collected? Does security outweigh privacy? Fortunately, since 2018 we have the privacy law General Data Protection Regulation. The AVG prohibits the unnecessary or unauthorized collection or use of personal data in public spaces.
According to the privacy watchdog Personal Data Authority (AP), smart city applications collect unnecessarily large amounts of data. This infringes on citizens' freedoms. The AP wants more ethics in the smart city. In a recently published research report on smart cities, the organization points us to the importance of a public space in which citizens can move freely and uninhibitedly.
The AP calls on municipalities to establish ethical frameworks for each technology proposal. The AP indicates that it is important to consider the rights and freedoms of citizens and actually include them in every step of the development toward a smart city.
The AP takes privacy complaints seriously. Just recently, the AP issued an AVG fine of 600,000 euros to the municipality of Enschede for Wi-Fi tracking in the city. The Wi-Fi tracking made it possible to track people living or working in downtown Enschede.
As the world's population explodes, we must meet our needs in more sustainable ways. Smart cities use technologies that make our lives more comfortable, sustainable and safe. These cities breathe technology and our data is the oxygen they need.
Building these cities is important for our progress, but should we sacrifice our privacy for it? Data protection and privacy should be priorities when designing smart cities so that our private data actually remains private.
