Canadian group sues government over Google-backed smart neighbourhood in Toronto

Sidewalk Labs—a company owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet—has plans to build a smart neighbourhood in Toronto that would collect data from different sources in the area. And it seems a local association is not happy with this development. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is suing three levels of government over this proposed plan. The association claims the project is “invalid and needs to be reset.” They are concerned about the increase in surveillance it entails and how the government seems to be outsourcing its responsibilities to a private corporation. The Sidewalk Labs project is run alongside the publicly funded Waterfront Toronto.

The CCLA is suing Waterfront Toronto, municipal, provincial, and federal governments. While Waterfront Toronto is publicly funded, it does not report to the city or the province. Back in October 2017, Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto won a bid to develop a 12-acre patch of industrial landscape in Toronto to develop a “smart city.” But it has been mired in controversy and supposedly shrouded in secrecy.

Sidewalk Labs hasn’t submitted its development proposal yet but will do so this spring. Waterfront Toronto responded to the lawsuit in a written statement saying, "At this point Waterfront Toronto has not received a plan from Sidewalk Labs, its Innovation and Funding Partner for Quayside. Therefore, none of the claims in the in the CCLA Application can be assessed yet."

Source: BBC