Smart Cities use advanced technologies to improve urban life, but the processing of personal data raises privacy and security concerns. Data Protection Legislation establishes rules and transparency. Good practices, privacy by design and impact assessments are essential to ensure that innovations are safe, ethical and respect citizens' rights.
By Caroline Teófilo, DPO, Cecilia Helena de Castro e Jean Carlo Jacichen Luz, Partner, NP3 DPO Manager and lawyer at Peck Advogados respectively.
So-called smart cities (Smart Cities) are based on a series of advanced technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) and aim to improve citizens' quality of life and optimize urban operations with cost reductions.
Operationalization often depends on the processing of individual data, which may imply risks of harmful effects on human rights, involving technologies that can be used for surveillance purposes. Thus, data processing in smart cities raises questions about privacy and information security.
Therefore, personal data protection legislation, in Brazil and around the world, determines principles and rules, rights and duties to guide these processing activities and which are monitored by authorities as a way of mitigating risks, establishing a relationship of trust with citizens and act in a responsible and ethical manner.
Smart city authorities (Smart Cities) must be transparent with citizens regarding data processing, only process the data necessary to achieve their purposes, and ensure that citizens are aware of the data involved in the city's operations.
To ensure that these technological resources do not compromise people's rights and security while complying with legal requirements, they must promote the adoption of good practices that guarantee the pillars of information security (confidentiality, integrity and availability).
Therefore, the ideation and development of a project can be helped by the use of methodologies and tools that adopt a privacy by design approach, that is, compliance with privacy and security requirements from the initial stages.
Furthermore, it is important that smart city authorities (Smart Cities) carry out impact assessments on citizens, especially regarding the processing of personal data considered high risk, such as massive processing of information, use of innovative and emerging technologies, surveillance or control of areas accessible to the public and processing of sensitive personal data, such as biometrics and health.
The application of these privacy-based tools makes it possible to verify in advance the implications of projects that aim to improve the urban environment, enabling course adjustments in their development so that they are, in fact, sustainable, responsible and ethical. Innovations must be planned and executed in a way that prioritizes the security of relationships and respect for privacy.
Source: PartnerSales