Smart cities and personal data: balancing
innovation, technology and the law
Cidades inteligentes e dados pessoais:
equilibrando inovação, tecnologia e o Direito
Jesús Manuel Niebla Zatarain*
Faculty of Law of Mazatlan, Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Mexico
1. Introduction
One of the technological developments that have deeply influenced society
is, without a doubt, the Internet. Its impact can be seen in areas that were,
prior to its arrival, considered of human realization only. In this aspect,
the relation between government and citizens has been shifting towards
the adoption of ubiquitous technology and digital platforms, which has
incentivised communication and increased transparency levels. This is
the particular case of smart cities. Nonetheless, these technologies operate
through schemes that require gathering personal data, generating a potentially harmful scenario for their holders. To answer to this situation, many
jurisdictions have developed their own version of digital driven legislations, having mixed results at best. This is due to several reasons ranging
from the incompatibility of the traditional approach to enforce the law in
digital scenarios to a lack of collaboration between experts in these areas.
It is within this last position that law compliant operation of smart cities is
currently located. As a result of the importance of this scenario, a proper
understating of the particularities of the environment is proposed, along
* Professor and researcher of the Faculty of Law of Mazatlan of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa,
Mexico. His areas of interests are legal informatics and digital regulation. Email: j.niebla@uas.edu.mx.
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with the cooperation between the technical and legal aspects to deliver law
compliant and technical efficient development.
2. Turning traditional urban centres smart
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technological platform that presents a
new paradigm where everyday life objects will be equipped with devices
such as microcontrollers, transceivers and communication protocols that
will allow communication with each other and with its users, becoming an
integral element of the Internet1. This development has been addressed by
a sector of the information technology community as the natural evolution
of the cyberspace, making it more pervasive. Relevantly, the IoT monitors
and interacts with a large variety of appliances, such as surveillance cameras, monitoring sensors, actuators, vehicles, etc. producing a large variety
of data that can be used for efficiency purposes.
In this context, the next step on the evolution of the IoT has been
its insertion into urban spaces. This idea has been supported by many
governments that considers it as a suitable platform to achieve urban efficiency goals such as managing resources, to increment the quality of public services and encourage government-citizen interaction2. Additionally,
smart cities favours transparency, facilitating cooperation of citizens in the
achievement of public strategies, increasing awareness of urban needs and
enabling the collaboration between local and state public spheres3. Overall, these elements have allowed smart cities to rise.
However, the development of smart cities is a long term process, which,
needless to say, requires large volumes of economic investment. To achieve
this, several initiatives have been proposed, in the case of the European
Union, the Smart finance for smart buildings initiative4, which aims to
create attractive schemes for investing in smart technologies for residential
and private buildings. This project will operate from 2018 to 2020 creating
up to 22,000 new jobs and developing a sustainable market for smart cities
infrastructure.
1 ATZORI; IERA; MORABITO, 2010.
2 ATZORI; IERA; MORABITO, 2010.
3 CUFF; HANSEN; KANG, 2008.
4 To know more see: EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2018.
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In this scenario, infrastructure development has proved to be a considerable challenge that has led to the cooperation of the public and private
sectors. In the United States, IBM is closely working with the public sector
to develop a cognitive model to process personal data relevant to support
social, health and educational issues5. Another technology organization
that is deeply involved in smart cities is Cisco. This company provides
physical components required to connect, protect and securely collect personal data in smart urban environments6. Microsoft is currently aiming
to provide digital solutions for four main areas: optimization of natural
resource use, urban security, smart buildings and improvement of field
services, through their platform CityNext7.
Overall, technological development still remains as the core element
in smart cities research. Wireless communication, analysis of relevant data
and security have become key areas and have been delivering relevant advances. However, each city has its own identity and particularities, which
makes the creation of a general framework a complex task. In this sense,
the European Union has developed several approaches according to the
characteristics of each city, focusing on objectives that are more likely to be
achieved in the short term according to their particularities8.
3. Big data in urban environments
Ubiquitous computing along with the IoT had increased the production
of large datasets with a variety of information, both public and private.
Among the first classification, there are national census, government records and surveys, whereas on the second one there are information about
data, market operations and customers9. Big data techniques allows us to
manage and properly process a large volume of information. They are ca-
5 To know more see: https://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/solutions/human_solutions/ Last access 15 of March 2019.
6 To know more see: https://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/solutions/human_solutions/ Last access 15 of March 2019.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/industries/smart-connected-communities/what-is-a-smart-city.
html. Last access 15 of March 2019.
7 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-of-things/smart-city. Last access 15 of March 2019.
8 See: EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2017.
9 KITCHIN, 2014.
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pable of transforming such data into usable knowledge, suitable for commercial and government purposes. In relation to its technical compositions, big data possess the following characteristics10:
• Data processed are considerably large in volume;
• It operates in high velocity, almost in real-time;
• It can be structured or unstructured;
• Operates in entire populations or systems;
• Results are as fine and particular as possible;
• Capable to operate on different data sets and
• Flexible to extend and escalate the volume of data processed.
As the adoption of digital platforms such as the IoT expanded, the
necessity of adopting big data strategies to properly process digital data became evident. Likewise, the conversion of traditional devices into “smart”
ones created a new market for the generation of electronic information.
Depending on the type of source used to collect information, big data may
be classified as one of the following types11:
• Directed: These are generated by traditional methods of surveillance.
Here, a device is set to collect specific data from particular users or
places. A classic example of this is immigration control.
• Automated: Data is generated without the direct intervention of the
user. This is the scenario when data related to the purchases made by a
costumer is used for profiling purposes.
• Volunteered: These are data provided by the users. These covers social
media interaction and those obtained and from crowdsourcing12.
Naturally, the automated approach has attracted the attention of designers and developers of smart cities. Inherited from the IoT, most of these
approaches have been adapted to obtain data through the combination of
ubiquitous technologies such as surveillance, sensors and other tracking
devices. Compatibility with dynamic scenarios has been also fundamental,
10 BOYD; CRAWFORD, 2012 and MAYER-SCHONBERGER; CUKIER, 2013.
11 KITCHIN, 2014.
12 KITCHIN; DODGE, 2011.
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for example, automatic meter reading (AMR) allows an efficient management of domestic services; automated monitoring of public services is also
having a positive impact, this is the case of RFID chips attached to garbage
collectors that provide whether they need to be collected thus, making
this service more efficient and positively impacting public opinion13. Smart
technology can also be used to measure the state of public infrastructure.
In this case, bridges and roads can be monitored to calculate when they
would need to be maintained, allowing a better allocation of public resources.14 Additionally, public transportation is also shifting towards smart
technology approaches. This is the case of the Oyster card in London,
which allows travel in both surface and underground services15. Consequently, smart cities are conceived as urban areas where personal data is
obtained on real time, through objective measurements and the adequate
technological infrastructure.
To address this scenario from the perspective of municipal governments, in the following section, this perspective will be presented.
4. Cities, personal data and smart technologies
It is well known that the approach presented by smart cities has been
adopted in different urban centres around the world. The selection of this
technology can be seen in strategic sectors such as transport, where data
is collected from cameras located in relevant areas of the city16. At the same
time, these technological devices can be used by other departments of
public service. In the previous scenario, police departments can obtain relevant information in relation to a particular crime from cameras located in
the surrounding areas. In large cities, sensors gather relevant data related
to environmental conditions, permitting to establish countermeasures and
assessing the impact of contingency plans.
In relation to areas where the smart city approach is currently being developed, Latin America has very interesting scenarios. In Brazil, Rio de Ja-
13 To know more about this approach see: HANCKE; DE CARVALHO E SILVA; HANCKE, 2013.
14 HANCKE;, DE CARVALHO E SILVA; HANCKE, 2013.
15 https://data.london.gov.uk/blog/improved-public-transport-for-london-thanks-to-big-data-and-the-internet-of-things/. Last access 15 March 2019.
16 DODGE; KITCHIN, 2007.
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neiro has one of the most ambitious projects, centralizing data from thirty
different sources into a single analytic centre17. This development operates
on the following initiatives18:
• Rio connected: It aims to expand the telecommunication infrastructure of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It has the objective to interconnect
2.437 governmental points through high speed connections, to facilitate the interaction with citizens.
• Knowledge ships: This initiative is oriented to reduce the digital gap
existing within the city’s population in terms of digital culture. It will
also incentivize the adoption of digital platforms as communication
ports with the government to provide relevant knowledge about important events.
• Rio Ágora: This module operates as a social network to discuss and
propose public policies. It strengths involvement, participation, transparency, clarity and supervision of public environment.
• Rio ideas and Rio apps: This method of public participation is based on
two type of contests. In the first type, participants present their solutions
to a particular problem according to the characteristics of a given scenario. The second one attracts the participation of specialists in technology,
who present a technological solution (apps) for a public problem.
• Rio call centre: This is the main communication channel between the
people and the government. It operates 24 hours and covers more than
1.000 municipal services. It complements services already provided
through digital services, serving citizens that are still within the digital
divide.
• Rio operations centre: This initiative processes the data obtained
from different sources, such as sensors and cameras located in different
areas of the city 24 hours a day, delivering detailed information about
the condition of the city.
These initiatives facilitate citizen participation in municipal management. This also impacts positively in terms of transparency, delivering a
more adequate process of resource allocation.
17 GAFFNEY; ROBERTSON, 2018.
18 SCHREINER, 2016.
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The integration of services maximize efficiency in resource consumption.
For example, if a car accident is detected through police cameras, the same
data can be used by emergency dispatches to send the appropriate number
of ambulances. Smart cities and their algorithms process, visualize, analyse
and monitor an immense volume of datasets, aggregating relevant data
emerged later and creating projections of potentially relevant scenarios.
Mexico City is currently developing its own smart city approach. According to a report published by the communications agency Llorente and
Cuenca: “Mexico City wants to face these challenges [misery and violence]
and be a leader within the region by putting in place proper planning
initiatives and utilizing the third wave of the internet”19,20. Since 2016,
there has been the “Connectivity Master Plan for Mexico City” through
the Secretary of Economic Development in coordination with the National
Autonomous University of Mexico and the World Bank. It has four main
objectives21:
• To analyse governmental structure and identify its needs;
• To identify the current connectivity structure of the city;
• To estimate the connectivity demanded in Mexico City;
• To propose the design of the Connectivity Network of Mexico City;
and
• To propose the redesign of the broadcast network in Mexico City.
However, Mexico City faces a series of challenges that need to be fulfilled to achieve a fully functional smart city approach. This focus on three
equally important areas: technology, priority inclusion from the government and citizen participation, and legislation22.
Romero and Ellstein (from Llorente and Cuenca) mentioned on their
report that these need to be addressed from an inclusive participation
position, where relevant aspects overlap23. Here, technology is seen as a
19 ROMERO; ELLSTEIN, 2018.
20 ROMERO; ELLSTEIN, 2018.
21
https://www.sedeco.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/inicia-gcdmx-plan-maestro-de-conectividad.
Last access 15 March 2019.
22 https://www.consultancy.lat/news/236/latin-american-smart-city-potential-mexico-city-leads-the-way.
Last access 15 March 2019.
23 ROMERO; ELLSTEIN, 2018.
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product directly obtained from innovation that brings citizens together
and diminishes social exclusion. In relation to legislation, Mexico has a
solid framework to process personal data in the form of the Federal Law
on Protection of Personal Data Held by Individuals and the Federal Law
on Protection of Personal Data Held by Obliged Subjects. The first one
regulates scenarios where the collection of data is performed by private
citizens, whereas the second one addresses those interactions where the
collector is the public body. Nonetheless, it is perceived that the Mexican
legal framework requires further adaptation to the reality of emerging digital environments to bring accurate legal certainty to the parties involved.
The third and last objective aims to provide and strengthen civic and
democratic principles within the Mexican society such as responsibility,
transparency and participation24. Citizen interaction and participation is
the cornerstone of smart urban environments. Thus, it shall be taken as
a fundamental element in the design and functioning of these scenarios.
They provide input that measures both operational efficiency and the levels of public acceptance, which are the ultimate goals of smart cities.
A more advanced scenario is the city of New York. Here, the Office of
Policy and Strategic Planning has developed an analytic hub that allows
gathering data from a diverse variety of public sources to manage, regulated and plan more efficient urban goals. A relevant feature presented by
this project is the considerable amount of open data made available for
independent designers. In relation to connectivity, Cisco systems in collaboration with the New York City council has lunched the 24/7, a platform
that integrates information from governmental sources, local business and
citizens to provide relevant knowledge anytime, anywhere and to any device. This project presents three objectives:25
• Inform: It delivers relevant information to their immediate proximity.
This scenario can be seen in situations when a user receives information of the events that are taking place in his neighbourhood.
• Protect: This approach allows a better management of security resources by allowing police and security forces to locate their units in
areas where critical events are occurring.
24 MOORE, Mark. Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. 1995.
25 FRAZIER; TOUCHET, 2012.
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• Revitalize: After having established security and informing strategies,
cities are more likely to receive investors to develop commerce and
tourism. Additionally, real estate prices will increase, which will lead to
greater tax revenue that can later be used to revitalize the community.
The dynamic nature of this scenario and the flow of personal data has
led the authorities to establish a series of strategies to ensure lawful management of personal data. Unlike other cases like Mexico City, New York
has established Chief Privacy Officers26 who will be in charge of creating
protocols and policies to ensure that not only data requests from different
areas will be performed lawfully, but also that the resulting data will be
properly managed. Additionally, it requires safe personal data management
practices among employees and contractors27. In relation to transparency,
New York City Council has also introduced the Public Oversight of Police
Technology (POST) Act, which aims to regulate the use of surveillance
tools by the city’s police.
Another relevant case is London. In this city, real-time information is
provided to citizens in relation to several topics, such as weather, public
bike availability, electricity demand, transport, stock market and twitter
trends in the city and even access to traffic camera feeds. Additionally, the
city has developed the London Dashboard28, which makes data related to
twelve key areas available, these are: jobs and economy, transport, environment, policing and crime, fire and rescue, communities, housing, health,
and tourism. Overall, this site provides processed information for nonskilled users, which facilitates their interaction within the city of London.
Overall, urban smart centres are delivering a new approach towards
management and delivery of public services. Unlike conservative positions,
which perceives this as a replacement of the human element in favour of
automation, a better understanding perceives the technology behind smart
26 EUROPEAN COMMISION, 2018.
2 7 http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/167-18/mayor-de-blasio-appoints-laura-negr-n-chief-privacyofficer. Last access 15 March 2019. To read about this approach implemented in other
cities, see: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/santa-clara-county-hires-first-chief-privacy-officer. Last access 15
March 2019 and https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/InformationTechnology/privacy/PrivacyProgramIntroductionE-TeamBriefing.pdf. Last access 15 March 2019.
28 http://citydashboard.org/london/. Last access 15 March 2019.
LAURIAULT, 2012 and RIBES; JACKSON, 2013.
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cities as a quality increasing tool for public services. However, regardless
of the evident benefits that smart technology offers in urban environments,
it also raises a serious concern in relation to the lawful management and
processing of personal data and its political value. These scenarios will be
presented in the following section.
5. Digital data and its impact on urban politics
Digital data contains a series of complex elements that reflects a person’s
particular ideas, along with the context through which they were conceived, produced, processed, managed, analysed and stored29. Consequently, these pieces of information cannot be considered as a mere product of human interaction: they are the result of particular choices made on
specific circumstances and beliefs, containing ethical considerations and
even political opinions.
Big data is not indifferent to this, it adapts its gathering process according to characteristics of the sampling frame, the context in which data is
gathered, the ontology implemented (the logical description of how data
is going to be regulated and standardized), the technological architecture
adopted and the legal framework related to privacy.30 This has generated a
new form of technocracy where management and regulation of the city
resources are based on the assumption that all aspects can be measured
and monitored as technical problems31. However, such position needs to be
properly assessed, since technocracy, by its own nature, may not include
all the relevant elements of a particular scenario thus, operating in inaccurate and narrowed terms. Consequently, its results would not provide
an adequate solution, especially in highly dynamic and complex environments. Ironically, this classification and assessment of urban data, proper
of smart cities, goes against the classic conception of technocracy32. Matter mentions that the implementation of this approach makes data suffer
from “datafication, the presumption that all meaningful flows and activity
29 LAURIAULT, 2012 and RIBES; JACKSON, 2013.
30 KITCHIN, 2013.
31 KITCHIN, 2014.
32 HILL,2013.
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can be sensed and measured’’33. Consequently, technology has to deal with
deeply rooted problems within the structure of a particular city in order
to be efficient and accurate. However, it is mostly implemented over the
already existing burocratic structure, centralizing data flow, but compromising its effectiveness.
The operational process through which smart functions function requires gathering massive levels of personal data. In the following section,
the impact of this on three different legal frameworks will be addressed.
6. European Union
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union
has provided its citizens with more control over their personal data. Naturally, as the adoption of the smart city approach increases, the necessity to
develop lawful strategies to gather personal data becomes urgent.
This has led non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to propose that
“people should always know that their data is being collected, and that these
can be accessed and deleted” and that “all the initiatives developed by a
smart city should be carried out in the name of public interest and not in
the one of companies providing cities with the technological infrastructure”34.
One of the main objectives proposed by the GDPR is to harmonize
privacy laws across Europe. Here, the figure of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) emerges as a required element whose work is to guarantee
legal compliance in relation to personal data legislation. In reference to
the scenarios where a DPO is required, the GDPR in its article 37 states:
“appointed for all public authorities, and where the core activities of the
controller or the processor involve ‘regular and systematic monitoring of
data subjects on a large scale’ or where the entity conducts large-scale processing of ‘special categories of personal data”35. The objective of this figure
is not to strictly implement the law but try to facilitate the collaboration
between the legal and technological sectors to facilitate the adoption of safe
practices. DPOs could be private contractors or members of the staff and
can operate in more than one organization, as long as they present similar
33 MATTER, 2013.
34 https://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/130305/en. Las access 15 March 2019.
35 EUROPEAN UNION, 2016.
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operational structures. We can see the presence of this new officer in several private organizations, nonetheless city councils have yet to implement
it in the structure of the city. This lack of preparation has led the public
sector to hire private elements to properly implemented the GDPR, while
preparing their own.
Overall, the GDPR has given the much needed step towards the implementation of a functional legal framework compatible with the reality
of technological advance. In this sense, it also provides certainty to data
collectors by defining the steps required towards lawful processing of personal data. Several cities have been successfully implementing this regulation to their smart architecture, this is the case of Barcelona36 and Vienna37.
7. The United States
Like many European countries, the United States has experienced a development in smart urban technologies. US legislation has addressed personal data from the perspective of civil rights legislation, such as: the Fair
Housing Act (1968), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970), the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1972), the Electronic Communication Privacy
Act (1986), which is applied to service providers that transmit data, the
Privacy Act (1974), which is based on the Fair Information Practice Principle (FIPP) Guidelines, and the Breach Notification Rule. As it is possible
to infer, US legislation has tried to provide data owners control over their
information since at least 2012. This can be seen in the “Consumer’s Bill
of Rights”, developed on the “Fair Information Practice Principle” (FIPP),
which provided two relevant principles38:
1. Respect for Context Principle: consumers have a right to claim that
the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data by companies are
done in ways that are compatible with the context in which consumers
provide the data, and
2. Individual Control Principle: consumers have a right to exert control
over the personal data companies collect from them or how they use it.
36 To know more visit: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/digital/en. Last access 15 March 2019.
37 To know more visit: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/digital/en. Last access 15 March 2019.
To know more visit:https://smartcity.wien.gv.at/site/en/. Last access 15 March 2019.
38 To know more visit:https://smartcity.wien.gv.at/site/en/. Last access 15 March 2019.
RANCHORDÁS; KLOP, 2018.
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As it has been delivered, American legislation has evolved along with
technology, creating Acts or Bills that aim to regulate particular scenarios.
This is the case of the Smart Cities and Communities Act of 201739, which
addresses the implementation and use of smart technologies and systems
in communities of various sizes. By “smart city or community” it is understood one:
in which innovative, advanced, and trustworthy information, communication, and energy technologies are applied to: (1) improve the health and
quality of life of residents; (2) increase efficiency of operations and services;
(3) promote economic growth; and (4) improve safety, security, sustainability,
resiliency, livability, and work life40.
This bill includes commercial, labour and data protection elements
to regulate the interaction between technology and citizens. Relevantly, it
also provides mechanisms to protect personal data that may be distributed
among different parties as part of the smart infrastructure. This model is
also designed to bring rural and urban communities together by developing technologies that facilitate the integration of both scenarios. Like insertion models implemented in other countries, this bill stimulates financial
investments to make possible the migration from traditional to smart urban approaches.
Complementarily, the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement
Act of 201741 establishes the obligation to provide an adequate level of
security to devices connected to the cyberspace under this approach. It
demands contractors and developers to comply with particular controls
and requirements that may lead to potential vulnerabilities. This bill, if
passed, would allow the Department of Homeland Security to provide a
vulnerability disclosure guidance for government contractors; amend federal statues, particularly the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, particularly in terms of cybersecurity42.
39 UNITED STATES, 2017a.
40 UNITED STATES, 2017a.
41 UNITED STATES, 2017b.
42 NUSRATY, 2017.
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Whereas the legal framework related to smart technologies is still being
discussed in the United States, it provides interesting positions towards the
impact of this technology. It distinguishes itself from other international
approaches by delivering provisions created through the cooperation with
the developing sectors, which delivers an accurate description of the technological and legal scenarios.
8. Mexico
As mentioned on section 4, Mexico is on the process of developing a
smart urban infrastructure for Mexico City. On this note, the legal aspect
of ubiquitous technology has raised considerable attention among developers, which intend to provide a compliant infrastructure. In this sense,
the obligation of lawful management of personal data is contained in the
Mexican Constitution on its articles 6th and 16th. The first one on its second
paragraph states: “Every person has the right to freely access plural and
pertinent information, as well as to search, receive and spread information
and ideas of any type through any form of expression”.43
Additionally, article 16th of the Mexican Constitution states, on its second paragraph: “Every person has the right to have their personal data
protected, in relation to access, rectification and cancellation, as well as to
manifest their opposition, in the terms expressed by the law, which will
provide the assumptions of exemption to the principles that direct data
management for reasons of national security, dispositions of public interest, public security and health or to protect the rights of a third party”.44
From this constitutional precept, two main federal laws emerged: the
Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Obliged Subjects45
and the Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Individuals46.
These legal documents provide the legal requirements to properly process
personal data for both public bodies and private citizens. It also defines the
term “sensitive data” as:47
43 MEXICO, 2012.
44 MEXICO, 2012a.
45 MEXICO, 2017a.
46 MEXICO, 2017b.
47 MEXICO, 2017b, article 3 section VI.
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Personal data that affects the most intimate sphere of its owner or that its
use may generate discrimination or a serious danger. Particularly, it is considered sensitive data information that may reveal aspects such as race or
ethnicity, present or future health condition, genetic information, religious,
philosophical and moral beliefs, labour affiliation, political opinions and sexual preferences.
In this context, the cyberspace presents itself as a considerable challenge, due to its complexity and high speed dynamics. Additionally, since
most of the processing and management of data occurs through a third
party that in a variety of cases is located in foreign countries, jurisdictional
problems are likely to occur.
Overall, whereas the Mexican legislation presents a suitable framework
to traditional transactions of personal data, it should remain in close contact with the technological sector, in order to guarantee an adequate level
of legal protection to digital scenarios such as smart cities.
Complementary, the Law to Promote the Development of Mexico City
as a Digital and Knowledge-Based City48 provides the technological architecture required to guarantee information access to the population of Mexico City. The article 5th of this law defines digital cities as49:
The local environment where a considerable advance in the implementation
of the Information and Knowledge Society exists in every scope of the activities performed by citizens, covering the private and public sectors, as well
as individual and collective levels, generating new forms of interrelation,
strengthening communication among the parties involved, specially between
the government and citizens. In a Digital City, public administration is the
leader integrating initiatives and responsible of reducing the digital gap.
Overall, this law sets the framework through which inclusion can be
delivered to citizens of all social sectors as part of governmental objectives. Additionally, relevant technological elements are perceived not only
as part of the operative infrastructure, but as a strategic element to ensure
the quality of life of its citizens. Conclusively, it proposes the development
48 MEXICO, 2012b.
49 MEXICO, 2012b, article 5.
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of smart cities through smart citizens, encompassing the development of
digital citizens, people capable of interacting and understanding the nature
of smart cities.
Nonetheless, this objective does not appear achievable in the short
term. The disparity among social sectors in Mexico City has made the dissemination of technology slow and, in some scenarios, barely productive.
This makes the generation of the necessary conditions to benefit from technological advances a fundamental goal. In this sense, one of the main contributions of this law is that it conceives smart cities as a scenario where the
efforts of the private and public sectors need to converge and complement,
rather than compete against each other, developing a tailored model of
governance for Mexico City50.
9. Conclusions
Smart city is a concept that is currently being adopted by many countries around the world. Beyond the evident benefits it offers as a model to
improve operational efficiency and resource management, it raises legal
concerns, especially in relation to the lawful processing of personal data.
However, the complexity of this platform is such that regulation cannot be
achieved through traditional legal approaches, thus requiring the development of new interdisciplinary models.
In this scenario, many jurisdictions have created their own version of
data driven regulations, which aim to provide an accurate level of protection
while remaining compatible with the cyberspace and other digital platforms.
Nonetheless, it is important to state that the advances obtained so far
have not reached the expected goals. However, this is caused by several factors. First and most important is the evolving nature of technology,
which advances constantly, generating new potentially legally relevant scenarios. Second, the lack of adoption of legal technology currently existing
in the market.
Additionally, whereas the Internet has become the core of smart cities
along with the capacity of personal devices to share data, it has also increased the difficulty to create a unified legal approach. This has led to the
development of legal frameworks that address this scenario in a particular50 BERRA, 2013.
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ized manner, delivering compatibility only with other smarts cities located
in the same jurisdiction.
Parallel to the legal aspect, smart cities have strengthened the expansion of digital governance. These technological platforms have proved
to be a valuable tool through which social interaction and inclusion can
be expanded to social sectors traditionally relegated. Finally, smart cities
should not be seen as mere administrative platforms, these are valuable
digital resources that help spreading social values such as participation,
respect and collaboration.
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