The Sidewalk Labs Debacle and How Blockchain Can Give Google Pause
For a company like Google, big data means big business. The growth of the tech giant has been enabled by its ability to harvest vast volumes of personal data from user’s online searches, browsing habits, and email inboxes. What it does with that data has become a source of increasing concern over recent years.
This concern started with the 2013 Snowden revelation that the NSA was accessing individual Google accounts to spy on people. Since then, there has been a shift in the public’s awareness of Google’s usage of our data. We now know definitively that not only are we Google’s consumers,we are also their main product. Our data is their product, packaged and sold for profit for unclear purposes to interested bauyers.
Recently, Google’s sibling Sidewalk Labs has given cause for further privacy concerns to citizens in Toronto. The company, which is owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, is partnering with government organization Waterfront Toronto to revitalize a 12-acre area of land next to the lake. The Sidewalk Toronto website offers up plenty of grand words: “world-class archetype of post-industrial innovative urban development” being a prime example.
However, concrete details of what is planned are somewhat lacking. What is apparent is that data and connectivity will be significant features in play. In light of Google’s track record of using personal data for its own gains, it is understandable that Sidewalk Toronto’s critics in Canada are now becoming more vocal. People are starting to consider what the development will mean for the privacy its residents. Moreover, who is going to profit from the data collected?
One Waterfront Toronto developer has reportedly resigned in protest over the lack of willingness from project participants to discuss details pertaining to data privacy. A year on from the announcement of the partnership, it is still not clear who will own the individual data generated from the Sidewalk Toronto project. A smart metropolis may offer advantages in energy efficiency and waste management. But it could also quickly become an Orwellian nightmare if a private company is running the show for the purposes of data collection.
