Ann Cavoukian, former Ontario Privacy Commissioner, resigned from her consulting role at Sidewalk Labs to “make a strong statement” against the Google urban development project in Toronto. The former commissioner claims that a privacy framework she developed for the project is being overlooked. She was told by Sidewalk Labs that “all of the data collected will be de-identified at source,” but eventually she found out that wasn’t true. “Sidewalk said while they would commit to doing it, the other parties involved in these new entities they’ve created… they couldn’t make them do it,” she said. Other prominent figures have left or spoken out against the project, and in spite of the privacy promises, Toronto residents are starting to worry.



Sidewalk Labs released a statement that said it would play “a more limited role” in discussions about data governance, and that while it agrees to follow her framework, Sidewalk Labs cannot guarantee that other companies involved in the project would do so as well. Cavoukian said she has since approached Waterfront Toronto directly and is hopeful that the body will insist that data collected is immediately de-identified, drastically lowering the possibility that it could be used without someone’s consent. “We don’t want people worrying about where they’re coming and going. We certainly don’t want a city of surveillance. That’s not on.”

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Ann Cavoukian Leaves Google Urban Project in Protest