Sidewalk Toronto 'Smart City'

Urban Data Trust

With data envisaged as central to the workings of the new district, the question of how it would be managed was important. 

Sidewalk Labs proposed an independent 'Urban Data Trust' to govern the collection and management, but was seen to have failed to provide meaningful detail, leading Members of Waterfront Toronto’s Digital Strategy Advisory Panel to complain the plan was 'frustratingly abstract' and it's ambitions 'misguided'.

It also prompted a outcry amongst civil right and privacy advocates, and the general public, about privacy, concerns supported by research indicating that 60% of Toronto citizens did not trust Sidewalk Labs to collect data on residents, and that 58% did not think the company would keep its commitment not to use resident data for advertising purposes.

In response, Sidewalk Labs recommended shifting data governance from the Urban Data Trust to vesting authority in the existing Waterfront Toronto government partnership.

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• CCLA Notice of Motion (pdf)

Research, advocacy 🧮

• BlockSideWalk Facebook page

• Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). Toronto's Smart City. Our Fight for Privacy

• Al-Fahim M., Frankenberg S. Qualms with Quayside: Public Engagement in the Toronto Smart City Project (pdf)

• Austin A., Lie D. (2021). Data Trusts and the Governance of Smart Environments: Lessons from the Failure of Sidewalk Labs’ Urban Data Trust

• CitizenFirst (2020). Sidewalk Labs Toronto: ‘A Thriving Hub for Innovation’ vs. ‘A City of Surveillance’ (pdf)

• Lim W. (2020). Quayside Smart Community Case Study of Sidewalk Lab’s ‘City as a Platform’ (pdf)

• Flynn A., Valverde M. (2019). Where The Sidewalk Ends: The Governance Of Waterfront Toronto's Sidewalk Labs Deal (pdf)

• Forum Research (2019). Support for Sidewalk Toronto Mixed

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sidewalk-labs-panel-1.5278903

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-sidewalk-labs-plan-1.5187877

• https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwkv9z/google-planning-smart-city-toronto-despite-privacy-concerns

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49674533

• https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/02/26/waterfront-toronto-advisory-panel-still-has-concerns-about-sidewalk-labs-data-collection-new-report-says.html

• https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/01/12/sidewalk-labs-toronto-waterfront-tech-hub-must-respect-privacy-democracy.html

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/08/08/sidewalk-labs/

• https://www.cigionline.org/articles/searching-smart-citys-democratic-future

• https://torontolife.com/city/toronto-is-surveillance-capitalisms-new-frontier/

• https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/06/toronto-smart-city-google-project-privacy-concerns

• https://gizmodo.com/privacy-expert-resigns-from-alphabet-backed-smart-city-1829934748

• https://www.vice.com/en/article/xwkv9z/google-planning-smart-city-toronto-despite-privacy-concerns

• https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/29/1054005/toronto-kill-the-smart-city/