Name: Insights: Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism
Uploaded: 2020-03-10
Duration: 3 min 41 s
Description: Dan Doctoroff discusses critiques of Toronto test.

[MUSIC PLAYING] LEIGH GALLAGHER: Almost from the start, this has gotten a little bit of pushback from privacy critics who are saying, "This is Google. This is too much. How are residents going to be able to opt out? There is no opting out," et cetera. How do you respond to that? Actually, I want to read Jim Balsillie, the former CEO of Research in Motion, wrote on op-ed in the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago that had some choice words. I'll just read from it and I'd like you to respond to it. He called the project a "Enlightened urban partnership with a foreign company whose business model is built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance." He said, "Sidewalk Toronto is not a smart city. It is a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism." I know you have made some changes since then, but comment on that if you would. DAN DOCTOROFF: Well, first of all, without commenting specifically on sort of what his motives might be, he made that comment before we actually said what are our policies toward privacy and responsible data use were actually going to be, which we did announce this week and had been planning to do this for a while. And there's four basic principles to it that fundamentally respond to any concern, I think, that he would have. The first is that we believe that urban data, data garnered in the public realm that could potentially have personally identifiable information is actually a public asset. Second is we proposed a pretty revolutionary idea which is an urban data trust that would be an independent body to decide what to actually do with that data. Third, we said we should be subject to exactly the same rules as anybody else. So that to the extent that we or anyone else want to use that data, you'd have to go through and get approval of this independent body. And then, we said fourth, is that all of the systems and services that are constructed to underlie this place need to be open. So the infrastructure systems, et cetera should be open. I don't think anybody would ever expect a company like us to actually propose something like this. It's a pretty radical approach, but one we think is necessary to protect the public interest. And yes, while data is important to this, it's not the main driver. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is make a place where people want to live because it's going to improve their lives, where we can actually find ways to solve the problem that is bedeviling this city and so many others of affordable housing, where we can actually find ways to move people around more efficiently and with less difficulty, where we can actually create the first climate-positive community essentially anywhere on earth. We think it's possible. Yeah, data is a piece of it. But at the end of the day, there are many, many other initiatives that will, I think, be ultimately more important. LEIGH GALLAGHER: So do you think that this proposal, this new plan that you put forth on Monday will quell some of the criticism? DAN DOCTOROFF: I think, it should. I think, for all, but the most extreme advocates, it should answer the vast majority of questions. Now, it's a proposal. There's lots of details to be worked out. We acknowledge that, but that's part of what the discourse actually should be. 

Insights: Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism

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Dan Doctoroff discusses critiques of Toronto test.

Sidewalk Labs' CEO Responds to Criticism

wait. Almost from the start, this has gotten a little bit of pushback from privacy. Critics were saying, you know, this is, uh, Google. This is too much. How How are residents gonna be able to opt out there? There is no opting out, et cetera. How do you respond to that? Actually want to read? Jim Balsillie v, former CEO of Research in Motion, wrote a op ed in the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago that had some choice words just read from it, and I'd like you to respond to it. He called the project a quote, enlightened urban partnership with a foreign company. His business model is built exclusively on the principle of mass surveillance, he said. Sidewalk Toronto is not a smart city. It is a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism. I know you have made some changes since then, but come in on that. If he was well, first of all, without commenting specifically on sort of what his motives might be, Hey, made that comment before we actually said What are policies toward privacy and date responsible data use were actually going to be, which we did announced this week and had been planning to do this for a while, and there's there's four basic principle to it that fundamentally respond to any concern. I think that that he would have the first is is that we believe that urban data, you know, data gain garnered in the public realm that could potentially have personally identifiable information is actually a public asset. Second is we proposed a pretty revolutionary idea, which is an urban data trust that would be an independent body to decide what actually do with that data. Third, we said we should be subject to exactly the same rules a cz, anybody else so that to the extent that we or anyone else want to use that data, you'd have to go through and get approval of this independent body. And then we said four is that all of the systems and service is, you know, that are constructed to underlie this play. I need to be open so the infrastructure systems, et cetera, should be open. Um, I don't think any whatever anybody would ever expect, you know, a company, um, like, actually propose something like this. It's a pretty radical approach, but one we think is necessary to protect the public interest. And, yes, while data is important to this, it's not the main driver. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do make a place where people want to live because it's going to improve their lives where we can actually find ways to solve the problem that is bedeviling this city and so many others of affordable housing where we can actually find ways to move people around more efficiently and less and less with less difficulty where we can actually create the first climate positive community, essentially anywhere on earth. We think it's possible. Yeah, data is a piece of it, But the end of the day there's many, many other, um, initiative will, I think, be ultimately more important. So do you think that this proposal, this new plan that you put forth on Monday will quell some of the criticism? I think it should, I think, for all but the most extreme, um, advocates. It should answer the vast majority of questions. Now it's a proposal. There's lots of details to be worked out. We acknowledge that, but that's part of what the discourse actually should be.