A member of an expert panel guiding Waterfront Toronto on Sidewalk Labs’ “smart city” proposal has resigned in large part because she wants to see the city, rather than a private company, control potentially valuable data linked to the project.On Thursday, tech entrepreneur Saadia Muzaffar became the second member to recently resign from the advisory panel, formed in late April to assist Waterfront Toronto with how best to deal with data privacy issues, digital systems, as well as ethical and safety issues around the use of technology in its Sidewalk Toronto plan — a partnership with Manhattan-based Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation firm and sister company of Google. Muzaffar, a founder of TechGirls Canada, a hub promoting women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), resigned her position on the panel amid her concerns that financial benefits stemming from the project will all go to a U.S. company — Sidewalk Labs — rather than local innovators or the general public.In her resignation letter, she blasted Waterfront Toronto, a corporation representing the city, province and federal governments, for showing “apathy and an utter lack of leadership” on the Sidewalk Toronto project.“The most recent public roundtable in August displayed a blatant disregard for resident concerns about data and digital infrastructure,” she said in her letter. Muzaffar said she wants to see the data around Sidewalk Toronto end up in the hands of the City of Toronto. The plan, which calls for a city of the future featuring data-driven technology to improve the life of residents, has already garnered some controversy over privacy concerns and who will control the data and the “digital infrastructure” generated from the project.Read more: Waterfront Toronto deal with Google sister company is ‘shortchanging’ city, says board member who quitSidewalk Labs launches research grants to study human be ...
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