Since 2017,Cavoukian has been the Distinguished Expert-in-Residence of the university's Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence. [3] [15]
Resignation from Sidewalk Labs-WATERFRONToronto Project
In 2017,Sidewalk Labs,a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google LLC),partnered with Waterfront Toronto to begin developing a smart city area in the 12 acre sector called Quayside. [16] The project was heralded as a premier example that "would develop a whole new district of Toronto as a working model of a new type of smart city". [17] Sidewalk Labs touted the Quayside Project as "an experimental urban neighbourhood 'from the internet up'". [18] The project was occurring within the larger context of the Smart Cities Challenge,a competition for $80 million in Canadian government funding,although it was not seeking funding under the competition. [19]
The proposed Sidewalk Labs development raised concerns around the breadth and depth of information collected under the project's umbrella. "Quayside may be one of the most sensor-laden neighbourhoods [proposed] in North America...It's being imagined as the sort of place where garbage cans and recycling bins can keep track of when and how often they're used,environmental probes can measure noise and pollution over time and cameras can collect data to model and improve the flow of cars,people,buses and bikes throughout the day". [19] It was noted that "Access to those systems and the use of that data,in this private-public partnership,will raise novel policy questions for governments about privacy and governance.” [16]
As the project was seen as a potential standard-setting benchmark in the development of smart cities worldwide,researchers raised concerns about the value of the data collected by Alphabet in the course of the project and how that value might be negotiated with the City of Toronto- as well as the ways that data would be collected and managed. [17] [18] These issues were acknowledged by Waterfront Toronto's board of directors in March 2018:"Privacy,data governance,cyber security and the ethical use of technology are complex questions which need to be addressed in a robust way to ensure that the Sidewalk Toronto initiative progresses in a way that encourages innovation while preserving the public good". [20] The Board of Directors committed to "ensuring that the corporation has a robust team of independent advisors to ensure the protection of individual privacy rights for those who live,learn,work and visit within the new neighborhood". [20] As part of that commitment,Ann Cavoukian was retained by Sidewalks Lab "to advise them on their privacy framework,and they have made a commitment to approaching all of their solutions with Privacy by Design at their foundation". [20]
By October 2018,Cavoukian resigned from the Sidewalk Labs citing concerns that the project was not consistent with her widely respected "Privacy by Design" principles. While initially assured by Sidewalk Labs that they would de-identify all collected data at the source,Cavoukian was told at an October 15,2018 meeting that Sidewalk Labs could not force the additional third parties involved in the data collection to similarly commit to de-identify data collected at the source. [21] The de-identification of data at source was significant according to Cavoukian because "the smart city will likely be filled with sensors and other devices that will collect information 24/7,but their pervasiveness will make it to difficult to get consent from every person whose data is being collected". [22] Cavoukian stated,“When I heard that,I said,'I’m sorry. I can’t support this. I have to resign because you committed to embedding privacy by design into every aspect of your operation'.” [21] Her letter of resignation stated "I imagined us creating a smart city of privacy,as opposed to a smart city of surveillance". [23]
Cavoukian met with Waterfront Toronto on November 5,2018,to call for the immediate de-identification of data at the source and to express her willingness to continue working with the organization. [24] Cavoukian stated,“We don’t want people worrying about where they’re coming and going. We certainly don’t want a city of surveillance. That’s not on.” [21]
