“Smart cities” must balance need for data with protecting privacy. But how? New white paper examines what success requires
Data! Data! Data!
From appliances to home security systems to automated vehicles, new “smart technologies” are being introduced at a rapid, seemingly unending pace. The data they collect can then be analyzed to gain insights about how to make our lives easier and better.
The potential impact goes well beyond our individual worlds, where we use smart phones to control when the lights go on at home, or push a button to tell our SUV to park itself. Local governments, often in partnership with private enterprise, are integrating smart technologies into public spaces to improve efficiency, safety, mobility and innovation.
Achieving the benefits promised by such “smart cities,” however, means balancing the need for robust data with public concerns about data use and protecting the privacy of personal information. This is a concept known as “data governance.”
Covington & Burling LLP, a Washington, DC-based global law firm and a member of Mcity’s Leadership Circle of industry partners, studied data governance frameworks as they apply to smart cities. The results of the study are outlined in a new white paper, published today. It is the first in a series of four data policy white papers to be published in the coming months by Mcity in partnership with Covington.
The white paper is titled, “Data Governance Frameworks for Smart Cities: Key Considerations for Data Management and Use.”