Rob Gillies
Google’s plans for first wired urban community raise data-privacy concerns
Sidewalk Labs, a unit of Google’s parent company Alphabet, is proposing to turn a rundown part of Toronto’s waterfront into what may be the most wired community in history — to “fundamentally refine what urban life can be.” High-level interest is clear: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alphabet’s then-Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt appeared together to announce the plan Oct 2017. But some Canadians are rethinking the privacy implications of giving one of the most data-hungry companies on the planet the means to wire up everything from streetlights to pavement.