Behavioural patterns of Londoners going about their daily business are being tracked and recorded an unprecedented scale, an internet expert warns in a new book.
The author, Harvard academic Ben Green, says camera and sensor-packed “smart cities” – connecting up buildings, public spaces and services for increased efficiency – allow firms and authorities to “expand their data collection beyond your browser and into physical space”.
Large-scale London data-collection projects include on-street free Wi-Fi beamed from special kiosks, smart bins, police facial recognition and soon 5G transmitters embedded in lamp posts.
Transport for London announced this week they would track, collect and analyse movements of commuters around 260 Tube stations starting from July by using mobile Wi-Fi data and device MAC addresses to help improve journeys. Customers can opt out by turning off their Wi-Fi.
In Mr Green’s book – The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future – he describes how it is possible to identify individuals by cross-referencing open-source data along with social media posts to reveal a person’s identity.
He writes: “With detailed information about where you have been, for instance, machine learning algorithms can predict whom you know and where you will go next.”
Mr Green highlights the work of London software engineer James Siddle, who managed to deduce the identities of pay-as-you-ride cyclists using public Transport for London data sets.
“The smart city represents the vast expansion on both government and corporate data collection,” he writes.
“Embedding sensors, cameras, software, and an internet connection in everyday objects from streetlights to trashcans – creating what is known as the ‘Internet of Things’ – – makes it possible to collect remarkably precise data about what is happening in a city.
“This data could be used to facilitate beneficial outcomes: reducing traffic, improving infrastructure, and saving energy.
“But it also includes detailed information about the behaviour of everyone within the city.
“The push for police-worn body cameras, supported by many as a tool to hold police accountable, creates the potential for widespread surveillance by police of all public space: given that body cameras manufacturers are developing facial recognition software to analyse this footage.”
Mr Green urges city dwellers to throw off our “tech goggles”, and champions use simpler data science paired with non-technological reforms to help improve municipal services and build better communities instead of allowing “governments and companies (to) surveil public space to control behaviour”.
The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future by Ben Green, (MIT Press, £20)
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