Furthermore, private companies go to great lengths to track customers in their store, and they often offer discounts through rewards cards and other loyalty programs. In general, there are few legal protections against companies sharing this information. Unless people demand strong protections, there’s little doubt that our activities will be stored on databases and not just on videos.
Safety: The Strongest Argument
Although many people claim to privilege privacy over convenience, there’s one field that can cause even the most ardent to sacrifice at least some privacy: Safety. Carefully constructed studies have provided compelling evidence that security cameras discourage crime and lead to more captures, and better connectivity in smart cities can provide better safety for inhabitants. When citizens give up a degree of privacy for promises of safety, many are likely to accept the convenience of sacrificing privacy as well.
A common solution people point to when it comes to privacy seems simple: Let people opt in. However, cities will need to provide tangible benefits to those who opt in, and it’s easy for programs designed to be opt-in to become effectively mandatory. On the other hand, cities that don’t provide sufficient incentive for opting in might not reach enough people to generate useful information. Opt-out programs present problems as well, as residents who don’t want to participate in a certain type of tracking will have to have their identities stored in a database to prevent their tracking. In order to reach the goals on smart cities, the only practical means might be to require residents and visitors alike to participate in some sort of data collection.