By Derek Kartalian
Smart cities are no longer science fiction. The Internet of Things (IoT) allows technologies like household devices to communicate with each other through network connections. This system of connections is the core unifying concept of all smart devices, small or large, simple and complex. The most popular form of IoT devices are smart home technologies, such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. While these gadgets seek to make everyday life at home more efficient, smart cities bring this level of technological efficiency and advancement to the planning and infrastructure of entire urban areas. The integration of IoT technology into city infrastructure can improve many aspects of society, such as waste management, lighting systems, traffic congestion, energy consumption, and building structural health.
There are currently smart technologies being implemented into cities across the U.S. In San Francisco, the city created a smart parking system which optimizes parking availability through a model called demand-responsive pricing. This new system incentivizes people to park in underutilized areas by making parking prices lower or higher, depending on the level of demand that day. Overall, the project seeks to make the use of space more efficient, as San Francisco becomes increasingly congested.
New York City implemented smart meters inside residences to track and record the use of power utilities. These new meters have the goal of tailoring utilities usage statistics to customers and adding new products that save energy to lower overall consumption and environmental impact. Focusing on data-driven analytics, customers can even compare their energy usage to similar residences and request guidance on how to optimize the use of utilities. The new smart meters grant the average resident the ability to take control of their energy use and fit their energy needs, all while decreasing their energy costs.
Incorporating sensors and artificial intelligence, the Surtrac system in Pittsburgh aims to make road transportation more efficient and environmentally friendly. This technology works by
making traffic lights more responsive to real-time vehicle flows. Green lights are longer on traffic-heavy sides of the road, cutting down on jams and emissions from idling vehicles. A notable part of Surtrac is that the technology is decentralized – meaning that it can be installed and deployed over a city’s traffic grid over time. Surtrac claims that when using their product, cities have seen a reduction of 25% in travel times, 40% in time spent at intersections, 30-40% fewer stops while driving, and a 20% reduction in vehicle emissions.
Smart city improvements greatly improve efficiency, but their implementation creates numerous issues and limitations. One of the most worrying ethical problems with smart city technology is that nearly all IoT technology collects personal data on users. The acquisition of user information is the foundation of IoT efficiency, as data is the foundation for personalized insights. The most dangerous part of this data collection is the uncertainty surrounding how data is being used. In 2019, Ann Cavoukian, the Director of Privacy for Alphabet’s now discontinued Smart Sidewalk project, resigned upon learning that data collected from residents would not be de-identified at the source. The failure to depersonalize data is a serious privacy breach as information profiles could be extended to daily physical activity.
While this problem persists with many online services as well as smart devices, the primary issue with smart cities is that there is no way to opt out of data collection. If the devices are built into the streets you walk on, the streets you drive on, and the buildings you live and work in, you cannot prevent companies or the government from obtaining your personal data in the same way you can avoid an app such as TikTok.
Like all data collection, this information can be used to uncover patterns and connections that infer behavior. While the compilation of data is intended to improve some aspect of life, it can also expose information about your daily life and activities. The smart parking system in San Francisco provides residents with more cost and time efficient parking, at the cost of tracking your location and travelling habits. Smart utilities meters in New York can offer ways to make energy bills and carbon footprints smaller, but show when you are home by providing your usage statistics in 15 minute intervals. Finally, the sensors used to detect traffic congestion in Pittsburgh could cut down travel time and frustration with intersections, but also scan license plates to forecast transportation patterns. Convenience comes at the expense of privacy.
While many of these technologies are preliminary and in the beginning phases of integration, areas outside of the United States have integrated IoT technology into their cities at a much faster rate. These advances in technology provide some of the societal benefits they promise to deliver, such as efficiency and safety, but when taken too far can create dystopian-like states devoid of privacy.
In China, facial recognition software is employed in tandem with cameras which cover nearly all urban areas. The centralized facial recognition database contains data on almost every single Chinese citizen, with all activity monitored and logged. While this system acts as a comprehensive way to deter crime and other illegal activities, it has become a tool used to control daily behavior. China’s social credit system ascribes a social score to its citizens, and
certain activities can either increase or decrease that score. Any action in public deemed socially unacceptable can lead to a lowered score, and even public shaming. As a result of this extensive facial recognition system, no activity in society is private. Jaywalking across the street will result
in your face being projected onto billboards. Chinese citizens can receive a notice if they are wearing sleeping clothes or pajamas in public.
Although smart city developments in the U.S. are nowhere near this intrusive, the possibility is there. After all, mass-data collection is already facilitated by the federal government and data collection is accelerating at a rate which legislation cannot keep up with.
Yet despite these possibilities, most of the data being collected and handled to operate smart city developments in the U.S. are not very personalized. The benefits of efficiency and adaptability offered by these technologies outweigh the potential privacy concerns as long as these data remain anonymized. Regardless, American consumers show little regard for their personal privacy, the lack of which enables other data-driven services, such as social media, to be so personalized and popular. Indeed, it is unlikely that privacy concerns will prevent more IoT infrastructure from being implemented in cities across the country. For the time being, it appears that Americans believe smart cities can be created in a system where users enjoy the benefits of data collection, all while keeping individual privacy in mind.