IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

New information and communications technologies (ICTs) — including the internet of things (IoT) and advanced data analytics using artificial intelligence — have become essential tools for many city governments. Smart-city innovations are helping to boost efficiencies, improve infrastructure and confront urgent challenges — such as rapid population growth, social inequality and climate change.

Yet, along with their well-documented benefits, new technologies are ushering in new risks and unintended consequences. Increasingly, cybersecurity, privacy rights and the gap between those who have access to new technologies and those who don’t — aka the digital divide — are receiving greater scrutiny. Getting the risk-reward balance right is key for citizens’ wellbeing.

The website, www.privacyawarenessweek.org, detailed the specifics of the initiative, which includes a free ID Theft Prevention Tool that tests and educates people about privacy issues in eleven situations presenting heightened vulnerability towards identity theft.

Es gibt manche Errungenschaft der DDR, derer sich die Politik inzwischen wieder erinnert. Auch die Fernsehsender haben den Osten und die Ostalgie entdeckt. Nun droht offenbar eine zweifelhafte Erscheinung in neuem Gewand aufzuleben: die PKZ, in der viele die Verkörperung des Überwachungsstaates sahen.

Concerns over data privacy are nothing new. But as a growing array of systems and devices connect to the Internet and new data sources emerge—including the Internet of things—the issues are becoming increasingly murky for many business executives. Striking a balance between the requirements of a business and the trust of consumers is paramount.

The Ontario government has launched consultations aimed to improve the province’s privacy protection laws. The consultations will be conducted through an online survey, written submissions and web conferences.

The consultations will include individuals and businesses from the province’s tech, finance, and service sectors, as well as the information and privacy commissioner of Ontario. All parties have been asked to provide input on how the province can improve transparency concerning the collection, use, and protection of personal information online.

"Like the world's other democracies, Japan is now grappling with a central dilemma of the Information Age -- how to reap the powerful benefits of information technology in business and government, while also safeguarding citizen and consumer privacy," said Dr. Alan Westin, Director of CSLR's Japan-U.S. Privacy & Data Protection Program and the new JPR. "And this unfolds at a time of major social, technological, institutional, and political change in Japan."

Mehr als 90 Prozent der Briten haben offenbar kein Problem damit, auf öffentlichen Straßen oder Plätzen überwacht zu werden. In Deutschland beträgt dieser Anteil hingegen nur 48 Prozent, in Österreich gar nur 24 Prozent. Das berichtet die britische Zeitung The Independent heute, Montag, unter Berufung auf die EU-Studie "Urbaneye". Demnach hat sich die Anzahl von Überwachungssystemen in Großbritannien innerhalb der letzten drei Jahre auf vier Mio. vervierfacht. Damit ist das Vereinigte Königreich das am stärksten überwachte Land Europas. Grund ist offenbar die größere Angst der Briten vor Gewalt und Anschlägen wie von der nordirischen Untergrundorganisation IRA. Weitere in der Studie untersuchte Länder waren Deutschland, Österreich, Ungarn, Norwegen, Dänemark und Spanien.

From Japan to the 25-nation European Union, governments are struggling to protect personal data while also re-examining privacy in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"No one wants to be perceived as harboring terrorists," said Mary Kirwan, an international security and privacy expert based in Toronto. "You have very strong data-protection laws in the European Union but far more draconian laws for wiretapping and interception."