Well said, Bianca,

You are performing an important service by decoding the movements and power-moves that add up to the Waterfront Toronto + Sidewalk Labs civic theater. Users, residents-of-Toronto, voters, taxpayers, planners, property-developers, product developers, designers and architects who all swoon about the connected city or the smart city need to delve into detail. Think carefully about the small stuff and consider the social life of a ‘civic technology’.

Those in favor speak about innovation as though it is benign and sugary. Those in fear of innovation speak about it in terms of power, corruption, and corporate puppetry. If both worlds hold a kernel of truth, what then?

I notice two fundamental–and performative–problems. The first is we think that if it's innovative it must have its origins in San Fransisco where Steve Jobs used to order his turtlenecks in bulk. The second is that ‘users’ have been lulled into a Pavlovian state of ignorance when opting into, or downloading each new pieces of software. (this is a dangerous habit. But users must face up to half of the issue.)

Every time an individual accepts the default of agree to the terms and conditions (especially without reading them) they dig themselves into a vulnerable position with a tech firm like Sidewalk Labs. Their partner, Waterfront Toronto is well staffed with lawyerly folk who are “paid to be skeptical”. Good for starters. But not much else. How many lawyers get involved in the practice of technology innovation that leads to a product launch? (Ans. Not so much) But what if they did? That is, work hand in hand?

Much of the anxiety that comes from “surveillance technology” is well founded. Edward Snowden’s life offers ample and logical reasons for skepticism (even paranoia). If there is a venn diagram where one circle is oh shit! and the other is oh yeah! what might occur at the overlap?

One suggestion to consider is a massively granular EULA. (end user license agreement). It has been pointed out that when I opted in to the EULA on my Mac or iPhone I was opting into 256 pages of legalese. I haven’t read them. But what agency am I left with now that I said yes for the elixir of using a computer, email, searching Google, or Facebook?

To estimate I might be making a permanent declaration regarding my human rights with respect to 1000 legal conditions. So there it is. Sidewalk Labs wants (and feels it deserves) the same sheep like stupidity that I grant to Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.

This will need to change. And change can happen when 1. the EULA is smashed into thousands of atoms. And 2. Each of these atoms is made relative and interactive. Think of it as an operating system for (living) contract.

Michael Davis-Burchat

Written by

Director at https://www.bighumanchange.com/

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