A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
“Eyes and Ears”: Surveillance in the Indian Smart City
This chapter discusses the centrality of digital technologies and data to the smart city. It studies India’s Smart Cities Mission, a policy that aims to transform 100 cities into smart cities. The chapter contextualizes India’s policy before the backdrop of smart cities in the Global South, a region which has not received the same attention as its Global North counterpart. It focuses on the potential of India’s smart cities to become massive surveillance systems, jeopardizing citizen rights and privacy. Using examples, this contribution discusses the various tools used to build a surveillance infrastructure – from the more innocuous free Wi-Fi kiosks to the more complex facial recognition systems. It goes on to discuss how these dangers are compounded due to the lack of legislations and unclear policy. The chapter details upcoming legislations, explains the lacunae, and demonstrates how its imbalance with digital technologies and data makes surveillance in Indian cities almost a foregone conclusion. Such a situation allows for state overreach as well as private sector profiteering, both at the expense of the citizen. The chapter concludes by underscoring the need for a data protection law that puts individual liberties at its center and for smart city policies that are based on a data rights and justice framework.
“Eyes and Ears”: Surveillance in the Indian Smart City
This chapter discusses the centrality of digital technologies and data to the smart city. It studies India’s Smart Cities Mission, a policy that aims to transform 100 cities into smart cities. The chapter contextualizes India’s policy before the backdrop of smart cities in the Global South, a region which has not received the same attention as its Global North counterpart. It focuses on the potential of India’s smart cities to become massive surveillance systems, jeopardizing citizen rights and privacy. Using examples, this contribution discusses the various tools used to build a surveillance infrastructure – from the more innocuous free Wi-Fi kiosks to the more complex facial recognition systems. It goes on to discuss how these dangers are compounded due to the lack of legislations and unclear policy. The chapter details upcoming legislations, explains the lacunae, and demonstrates how its imbalance with digital technologies and data makes surveillance in Indian cities almost a foregone conclusion. Such a situation allows for state overreach as well as private sector profiteering, both at the expense of the citizen. The chapter concludes by underscoring the need for a data protection law that puts individual liberties at its center and for smart city policies that are based on a data rights and justice framework.
“Eyes and Ears”: Surveillance in the Indian Smart City
Augusto, Juan Carlos (editor) / Purandare, Uttara (author) / Parkar, Khaliq (author)
Handbook of Smart Cities ; Chapter: 60 ; 1387-1417
2021-07-10
31 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
Surveillance , Data , Privacy , Technocracy , Smart city technology , Indian smart cities , Privacy laws , Data privacy , Data justice Computer Science , User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction , Information Systems Applications (incl. Internet) , Computers and Society , Communications Engineering, Networks , Sustainable Development , Urban Geography / Urbanism (inc. megacities, cities, towns)
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