UNO News Net: Tech expert resigns from advisory panel on Sidewalk Toronto over data ownership concerns

A member of an expert panel guiding Waterfront Toronto on Sidewalk Labs’ “smart city” proposal has resigned in large part because she wants to see the city, rather than a private company, control potentially valuable data linked to the project.
On Thursday, tech entrepreneur Saadia Muzaffar became the second member to recently resign from the advisory panel, formed in late April to assist Waterfront Toronto with how best to deal with data privacy issues, digital systems, as well as ethical and safety issues around the use of technology in its Sidewalk Toronto plan — a partnership with Manhattan-based Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation firm and sister company of Google.

Saadia Muzaffar, a tech entrepreneur, resigned from Waterfront Toronto's digital advisory panel for the Sidewalk Toronto project over concerns about the control of data and digital infrastructure pertaining to the project. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star)

Muzaffar, a founder of TechGirls Canada, a hub promoting women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), resigned her position on the panel amid her concerns that financial benefits stemming from the project will all go to a U.S. company — Sidewalk Labs — rather than local innovators or the general public.
In her resignation letter, she blasted Waterfront Toronto, a corporation representing the city, province and federal governments, for showing “apathy and an utter lack of leadership” on the Sidewalk Toronto project.
“The most recent public roundtable in August displayed a blatant disregard for resident concerns about data and digital infrastructure,” she said in her letter. Muzaffar said she wants to see the data around Sidewalk Toronto end up in the hands of the City of Toronto.

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The plan, which calls for a city of the future featuring data-driven technology to improve the life of residents, has already garnered some controversy over privacy concerns and who will control the data and the “digital infrastructure” generated from the project.

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“There is nothing innovative about city-building that disenfranchises its residents in insidious ways and robs valuable earnings out of public budgets,” she said in the letter.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Muzaffar said she feels that Waterfront Toronto’s responsibility to the public as guardian in the Sidewalk plan is being undermined by Sidewalk Labs, whose duty is to their shareholders and profits.

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“Sidewalk is a vendor. You can’t design public policy with a vendor,” she told the Star.
Muzaffar, a “tech activist” and co-founder of Tech Reset, a “pro-growth, pro-innovation group” that monitors how urban data is collected and turned into a commodity, is the second member to step down from the advisory panel, which originally included 15 leading experts in Canada on digital technology, privacy and governance.
Two members of Waterfront Toronto’s senior leadership also resigned recently amid tensions surrounding Sidewalk Toronto.
Muzaffar said when she first came on the panel she was “open minded” about the process, but has since been turned off by Waterfront Toronto’s “anti-democratic” public engagement process regarding Sidewalk Toronto.
Dan Levitan, a spokesperson for Sidewalk Labs, said Thursday that the “panel is independent from (Sidewalk) and the resignation of a long-standing critic of the project is not a surprise. But we take seriously questions about data and expect in the months ahead to present and consult with the public on a comprehensive plan for data collection, use, and governance.”
Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he is Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law, said the panel’s work will continue.
“We are committed to helping shape the future of data and digital policy in Canada, and I will be working with Waterfront Toronto and my fellow panel members to make sure that (the panel) can achieve what it set out to do, namely to provide expert advice on emerging issues related to privacy and data ownership,” Geist said in a statement.
Added Michael Nobrega, acting CEO of Waterfront Toronto: “we are unwavering in our commitment to serving the public interest and look forward to receiving the advice of the panel.”
He went on to say, “we are also well supported by external privacy and legal experts.”
In May, Sidewalk Labs released a responsible data use policy framework, including a promise to make data collected as part of the project “open and accessible” without breaching privacy.
In terms of data stewardship, Sidewalk says it continues to explore “conventional approaches to data ownership in cities, the responsibilities that come with “owning” data, the technological and economic advantages of storing data in Canada, and innovative models of governing urban data, such as establishing a non-profit data trust.
Donovan Vincent is a housing reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @donovanvincent

By Donovan VincentHousing Reporter

Thu., Oct. 4, 2018