| Title |
Is civic data governance the key to democratic smart cities? The role of the urban data trust in Sidewalk Toronto |
| ID_Doc |
39884 |
| Authors |
Artyushina, A |
| Title |
Is civic data governance the key to democratic smart cities? The role of the urban data trust in Sidewalk Toronto |
| Year |
2020 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.tele.2020.101456 |
| Abstract |
Over the two and a half years of its existence, Alphabet/Sidewalk Labs' smart city project in Toronto, Canada has been at the center of successive controversies relating to its proprietary approach to personal data. To address these concerns, Sidewalk Labs suggested putting the data collected in the smart city in a trust. As a "steward of urban data and the public interest," the Urban Data Trust was expected to protect residents' privacy, establish responsible data sharing standards, and provide individuals with a share in the profits derived from the data gathered about them. This article proposes technoscientific/platform capitalism theories as a theoretical framework in the research on data governance. I situate the Urban Data Trust within a series of policy responses to the problem of extractive data practices. I posit that the company's data governance approach appeals to and sustains a political-economic regime governed by the logic of rent seeking, which aims to entrench the economic dominance of technological monopolies. |
| Author Keywords |
Data trust; Smart city; Sidewalk Labs; Assets; Rentiership; Privacy |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000580547600013 |
| WoS Category |
Information Science & Library Science |
| Research Area |
Information Science & Library Science |
| PDF |
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