Spokes: SMALL: SOUTH: Smart Privacy for Smart Cities: A Research Collaborative to Protect Privacy and Use Data Responsibly

Fpf Education And Innovation Foundation, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Today's cities and communities, and their residents, are increasingly connected, and decisions are informed by actionable, real-time data. Data is making modern cities and local communities faster and safer, as well as more sustainable, livable, and equitable. At the same time, smart city technologies raise concerns about individuals' privacy, autonomy, choice, and possible misuse. Government officials are raising important questions about who should own data, how privacy protections for public-facing technologies work, who and how to communicate with the public about privacy, and more. The long-term vision of the project is to help municipal leaders strengthen their ability to collect, use, and share data in a responsible manner. This will help grow privacy-preserving innovations across applications and geographic boundaries for the public good. In this way, the Smart Privacy for Smart Cities Spoke will serve to increase public knowledge, understanding and engagement with privacy-related concerns, and ultimately promote the public's trust in smart city technologies and in their local government. The Smart Privacy for Smart Cities Spoke is a collaborative project led by the FPF Education and Innovation Foundation (FPF EIF). It will undertake three interrelated activities to help city/community innovators understand and incorporate privacy considerations and protections into smart city projects. First, the Spoke will produce a privacy risk assessment framework for smart city projects, including guidance on what policies, practices and accountability structures should be put in place and how to weigh benefits of new or expanded data techniques against attendant privacy and security risks. The framework will feature a de-identification component as de-identification is one of the primary measures that organizations can take to protect and share data in a privacy-preserving manner. Second, the Spoke will establish a network of privacy leaders for smart cities and communities, helping municipal officials better understand, communicate, and collaboratively address privacy issues and principles. Lastly, the Spoke will hold two workshops in partnership with MetroLab Network, a national network of 40+ city-university partnerships advancing technological approaches to urban challenges. The workshops will serve to launch the privacy leaders network; educate network members about the privacy risk assessment framework; and identify areas for further collaboration and research, particularly in applying the framework to specific technologies and data uses. Expected project outcomes include wide dissemination of the privacy risk assessment framework and its adoption in specific localities; development of new collaborations and partnerships through the privacy leaders network and associated workshops; and as an overall outcome, the advancement of civic leaders' knowledge, understanding, and application of privacy protection(s) toward standards of practice for smart cities and privacy. The project will support and leverage the Hub Network, in particular the South Big Data Hub, NSF's Smart and Connected Communities program, and the MetroLab Network of city-university partners. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.