7.1 Sidewalk Labs’ attempt to create the core configure the routers to create a private network that could conditions for digital innovation remain available and secure across an entire neighborhood, providing both incredible convenience and security (Sidewalk Sidewalk Labs proposed to establish a set of core conditions Labs, 2017a: 235). that could have catalyzed an ecosystem of urban design that was consistent with Waterfront Toronto’s objective of improving 7.2.2 Using distributed credential infrastructure to protect quality of life and providing new economic opportunities. privacy Most online software today requires information about the 7.2 Providing more affordable and flexible digital people using it. Sidewalk Labs believed that residents, workers, infrastructure and visitors in Toronto should have the option to share no more information than necessary for the use of a digital service. For Most projects planned by Sidewalk Labs relied on technology, instance, when applying to rent an apartment, potential tenants are and in particular on Internet connectivity and digital devices usually asked to reveal a lot of personal information (for example, that collect information. Digital infrastructure is what would they may need to provide a copy of their driver’s license or their tax enable an adaptive traffic light to prioritize a light rail vehicle or history). Some of that information is not necessary, the essential a heated bike lane to warm up in advance of a storm, or allow information being the future tenant’s financial responsibility. someone who has asthma to request alerts whenever there is a decline in air quality. To tackle this challenge, Sidewalk Labs proposed an emerging approach centered on a privacy-preserving technique that Sidewalk Labs designed “digital infrastructure” as “a basic enables interaction in a way that provides only a minimal building block of the future city—creating connectivity that amount of necessary information. helps residents, companies, organizations, and local agencies” use data to launch new services (Sidewalk Labs, 2017a: 405). In its project documentation, Sidewalk Labs stated that it hoped Sidewalk Labs’s proposal for digital infrastructure centers was to turn to “privacy infrastructure [that] is being developed by based on two main aspects. One was ubiquitous connectivity many groups around the world, including the open-source that would have offered residents, workers, and businesses fast community, global organizations . . . , startups, large financial and secure access to the Internet at an affordable cost. The institutions, and governments” in order to “explore ways to second was a “new type of ‘urban USB port’ that would provide incorporate this existing technology into many of its digital a physical mount, power, and connectivity to digital devices in services that involve personal information, and to adopt the public realm—such as Wi-Fi antennae, traffic counters, or a standard for handling personal data transactions in a air-quality sensors fixed to street poles and traffic signals—at trustworthy way” (Sidewalk Labs, 2017b: 398). much lower cost than the connected mounts cities use today” (Sidewalk Labs, 2017b: 385). 7.3 Enabling third party innovation In addition, Sidewalk Labs planned to explore a new approach Sidewalk Labs’s approach vis-à-vis Toronto’s data management to privacy that would enable people to share only the minimum system was based on the importance of published standards for amount of information necessary to complete a transaction with digital hardware and software, enabling broader public access a digital service. to the information (Sidewalk Labs, 2017a: 238). The firm stated, “Just as no single company owns the web, no single company, 7.2.1 A seamless and secure neighborhood-wide network organization, or agency should own the data or databases used Existing technology makes it difficult for people to connect to by cities” (Ibid., 2017a: 238). a home device when they are not at home. Usually, they must access a home device (such as a thermostat or home-security Here, Sidewalk Labs proposed to provide “well-defined public camera) via a third-party website (Sidewalk Labs, 2017b: 392- APIs” to define data management within the Toronto (Sidewalk 393). Sidewalk Labs proposed to take advantage of an emerging Labs, 2017b: 403). In addition, the company offered to make this security system called “software-defined networks.” The data publicly accessible with an open-access system. Finally, model uses software that defines the way in which information Google’s subsidiary proposed to make the software source code travels through network hardware. With that kind of design, required for others to integrate with each of these systems users would not need to configure their routers independently. publicly available under a free software license (Sidewalk Labs, Instead, the software-defined system could automatically 2017a: 441-443). 186 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021