BSRIA Briefing Smart Data: Silver Lining or Black Cloud? London, 13 th November 2015 Surveillance and the Built Environment Professor William Webster Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP) University of Stirling #@CrispSurv crisp-surveillance.com william.webster@stir.ac.uk
Surveillance and the Built Environment A surveillance studies perspective, taking into account: How to get the most out of Big (Smart) Data The implications of Big Data for the built environment And, the changing nature of society, human relations and working practices emerging alongside the Big Data revolution
The Surveillance Society Surveillance is ubiquitous, it is everywhere, a defining feature of modern society the surveillance society It is embedded in the information flows generated by new information and communication technologies It is normal, unsurprising, part of everyday life Incorporates the processing of vast quantities of personal data Some surveillance practices/technologies are explicit, such as CCTV or Body Worn Video, others less so, such as tracking and profiling Surveillance is therefore also subtle, discrete and hidden from sight
The Surveillance Perspective Surveillance is often closely aligned to security The surveillance society integrates many industrial sectors sociologists call this the industrial surveillance complex Surveillance impacts on our life chances and shapes our lives Surveillance should not be assumed to be good or bad The surveillance perspective is not anti-surveillance It seeks to understand new power relationships, new working practices, evolving social norms, and human relations The built environment is not immune from the surveillance revolution
Big/Smart Data and Surveillance Big Data (re)use of existing large data sets, often in the public domain to shape services and aid decision making Can include the integration of official data, privately owned data and data defining from social media and the Internet Relies of sophisticated algorithms and data matching The Internet of Things More (and more) devices attached to the internet The Internet interacts directly with the physical environment
Emerging Issues Where does all this information go and how is it used? Who decides what happens to our personal information? Can we influence what happens to our personal information? Are there safeguards to make sure it is not misused? How reliable and robust are Big Data processes? Will our data be held securely? Are such privacy concerns such as these taken into account when commercial opportunities around Big Data are exploited? How does this impact on those responsible for building design, construction and management take account of these issues?
And the Built Environment? The built environment commercial and domestic is evolving to accommodate surveillance Building to incorporate IT infrastructure and a plethora of access points (broadband, fibre optic, wifi) Also, new sensory devises watching, listening, smelling To provide new smart products intelligent lighting, smart energy meters, remote security applications Relevant to domestic property, critical infrastructure & civic engineering The emergence of Smart Cities
A New Dependency on Digital Technologies in the Built Environment This requires those responsible for planning and building design to have access to new skill sets those associated with physical building and engineering, IT requirements and informational security requirements The future of building design and engineering will need to blend these together Implies a high level of information sharing and a requirement to so securely to identify security threats to information
Concluding Comments The emergent surveillance society poses a number of challenges: How should the build environment evolve to accommodate security and informational requirements? Includes cyber security and records management To what extent should privacy concerns be considered? How is this knowledge acquired by those responsible for building design, construction and management? Security and privacy should not be afterthoughts, they should be designed in from the start