The APDCAT defends the design of smart cities taking into account the rights of citizens to control their data

The Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT) has participated for the first time in the Smart City Expo Congress, to highlight the central role that the defense of people's privacy must play in today's smart cities and future, which are based on the use of massive data from interconnected devices to bring efficiency to urban mobility, resource management and sustainability.

In this sense, as part of the panel 'The role of data protection in the context of smart cities', the director of the APDCAT, Meritxell Borras, and the head of the Legal Advisory Service, Xavier Urios, have delved into the challenges posed by the use of technologies in the planning and management of these interconnected spaces in terms of data protection.

In his speech, Borràs recalled that the development of new technological applications and services must be done with full responsibility, and this includes a firm commitment to privacy, cyber security and digital rights. The director added that in the face of the enormous challenge of smart cities, it is necessary to implement privacy by design and by default, in the creation of applications and services that process personal data.

For his part, Xavier Urios talked about what the regulatory limits should be in smart cities in terms of privacy. These are cities where decisions are made based on citizen data. And it must be borne in mind that the risks to privacy, especially with the implementation of artificial intelligence systems, have multiplied exponentially.

In this sense, in the same way that a smart city is based on putting at the center the improvement of the quality of life of the people who live there, it must also put at the center the respect for their privacy. From this approach, the regulations in general, and the data protection regulations in particular, must guarantee that efficient management of the municipality does not entail a loss of the right to anonymity or a reduction in the rights of people in general, and of the fundamental right to data protection in particular.