Tag: Sidewalk Labs

Bookmarked Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs abandons Toronto smart-city project (The Globe and Mail)

Decision follows more than two years of controversy over the development’s origins, overreach and privacy and financial implications

I was particularly left thinking by Cory Doctorow’s response to Google’s decision to step away from the Sidewalk project.

Imagine if Sidewalk had walked away from the project AFTER it was built, spitefully bricking the city on its way out the door.

Liked Toronto approves Google’s surveillance city, despite leaks revealing Orwellian plans (Boing Boing)

Yesterday, Waterfront Toronto unanimously approved the continuation of Sidewalk Labs’s plans for “Quayside,” a privatised, surveillance-oriented “smart city” that has been mired in controversy since its earliest days, including secret bullying campaigns, mass resignations of privacy advisors, lies that drastically understated the scope of the project, civil liberties lawsuits, and denunciations by the indigenous elders who were consulted on the project.

 

Liked 18 big thinkers take a critical look at the Sidewalk Labs plan (Toronto Life)

Google has big plans to build a Jetsonian smart city on the waterfront, and Torontonians have strong opinions about it: is it the solution to all our problems or the end of the world as we know it? We asked 18 super-smart people to tell us what they think

Essays By Joe Berridge, Michael Bryant, Ann Cavoukian, Jan De Silva, Dan Doctoroff, Cory Doctorow, Richard Florida, Ken Greenberg, Alexander Josephson, Jennifer Keesmaat, Bruce Kuwabara, Mohamed Lachemi, Kwame Mckenzie, Gord Perks, Robert Prichard, Yung Wu, Bianca Wylie And Shoshana Zuboff

Listened Google’s future city; the space-wide web; and how the ancients strategized for the future from Radio National

In this episode, we get an update on Google’s controversial proposal to take over the construction and regulation of a section of urban Toronto.

We learn about how the ancient Athenians used Tragedy to guide their future decision-making and why their approach is useful today.

And, the space-wide web – the rush to develop low-orbit satellites to secure the future of the Internet.

Antony Funnell speaks with Blayne Haggart about where things are at with Sidewalk Labs. Google’s pitch for more freedoms and land comes across like a marketing move where if the Canadian government pulls out of the deal then it is because of the change in request, rather than a failure to fulfil the initial promise.
Replied to Google is planning a city. What could go wrong? (ABC News)

Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs has plans to build and run an urban centre in Toronto, Canada. Not everyone is pleased.

The Sidewalk Labs is such an intriguing project. It offers an insight on what could be on so many levels. It is interesting to think about it in regards to the Selfish Ledger and Google’s move into (and out of) military AI. Imagine if they used Sidewalk Labs to hone their ability to identify citizens? Similar to China? And then have another about face and sell this technology to the highest bidder? Time will tell.