Despite signs that a high-tech, sensor-laden neighbourhood was going to be a reality in Toronto’s east downtown waterfront after successful negotiations between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto in October, the Google-affiliated development company is pulling the plug on the entire project.
Absent of an independent group that would oversee all digital innovations, as well as strict guidelines that would force any proposed project collecting or using urban data to de-identify personally identifiable data at source, Sidewalk Labs publicly released its 1,500-page draft Master Innovation and Development Plan for Toronto’s eastern waterfront.
Report suggests taking data governance control over Toronto's planned smart city neighborhood completely away from a Google affiliate and the public agency overseeing the waterfront