Sidewalk Labs: not good enough!

6 posts / 0 new

Sun, 2018-10-21 23:30

NorthReport

'Not good enough': Toronto privacy expert resigns from Sidewalk Labs over data concerns

A privacy expert who resigned this week from her role as an advisor to Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company set to build a "smart" neighbourhood on Toronto's waterfront, is concerned that the "treasure trove" of data collected there will be vulnerable to attacks.

The departure of Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's former privacy commissioner and current Ryerson University fellow, is just the latest blow to the ambitious, data-driven project.

Cavoukian said Sunday she chose to resign after a Thursday meeting between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront TO, the organization responsible for revitalizing the city's lakeshore.

It was there that Sidewalk Labs revealed that, while it has committed to stripping all of the data it collects of personal identifiers, it could not guarantee that other groups participating in the project would do the same.

"When I heard that, I knew I had to resign," Cavoukian said in an interview on CBC News Network.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ann-cavoukian-sidewalk-data-priva...

Mon, 2018-10-22 00:54

NDPP

This is an Orwellian nightmare of big brother surveillance and data mining. Hope this outrageous project is shut down.

Mon, 2018-10-22 16:38

Pondering

Governments are selling our data to private companies in exchange for "deals".

Thu, 2019-07-04 11:02

NDPP

The City Vs Big Tech [MUST READ]

https://twitter.com/ns_ahmed/status/1146411618986860544

"...This disruption looks like a deeper form of quantified technocratic governance, enabled by Big Data. By installing censors across the urban environment, as well as by tapping into existing unprotected services such as mobile phones, both public and private entities are able to collect and analyze unprecedented amounts of data..."

#BlockSidewalk

One day Toronto, you'll be sorry you sat idly by.

Mon, 2019-11-25 20:45

NDPP

Hundreds Protest Decision Allowing Google to Turn Toronto Neighborhood into a 'Smart City'

https://www.activistpost.com/2019/11/hundreds-protest-decision-allowing-...

"...Another audience member asked when Waterfront Toronto would file documents to respond to a lawsuit by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association - which the group filed in April, 2019, challenging the jurisdiction of Waterfront Toronto in entering into such a complex agreement with Sidewalk Labs, and asserting such an agreement violates residents' Charter rights to privacy, liberty and free association - and which is continuing.

Waterfront Toronto President and CEO George Zegarac replied, 'You know what? We're kind of removed on this one because this is before the courts, so I don't want to get into any details, but we are responding to that, so I'll just leave it at that. Zegarac's response is classic official obfuscation: the truth is that Waterfront Toronto has not yet filed any documents. Indeed, Waterfront Toronto's lawyers, whose high bills are footed by the taxpayers, are busy keeping the case out of court..."

TO: Surveillance City.

Sat, 2020-05-16 01:42

NDPP

Mercifully, the project has collapsed, Alphabet-Google has withdrawn and this Orwellian nightmare of total surveillance for Toronto has ended.