How Cities Can Harness the Power of Data While Protecting Citizen Privacy

Government agencies are waking up to the immense potential of data to transform communities and provide higher levels of comfort to their citizens. In fact, a recent survey by MeriTalk revealed that 90 percent of state and local government leaders have increased their use of data analytics over the past two years.

The increased use of analytics has mainly been driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the exponential growth of data resulting from the proliferation of low-cost mobile devices with sensors, which gather a wide range of information at a massive scale.

Data analytics is being leveraged by city authorities to gain insights that help improve the performance of a vast number of public services, and the results have been impressive. From improving the reliability of public transportation systems by reducing traffic and increasing the speeds of transit vehicles, to utilizing resources such as water and energy more efficiently by spotting waste points and optimizing consumption.

However, these applications have largely been restricted to processing that involves less sensitive data due to concerns about data privacy and security, and this has translated to a significant loss of data-driven opportunities. In spite of these concerns though, forward-thinking governments are taking up the challenge to harness value from more sensitive data while preserving the privacy of their citizens.

UNLOCKING VALUE FROM SENSITIVE DATA WITHOUT VIOLATING PRIVACY

Organizations are unlocking more value from sensitive data and opening up a new arena of data-driven opportunities as highlighted by Deloitte, and we’re starting to see this trend among government agencies around the world as they seek to provide more personalized services to their citizens.

In the U.S., for example, Allegheny County uses a predictive risk modeling tool to supplement the decision-making process when calls are being screened for child welfare. The tool determines the likelihood of the referred child being placed in foster care or re-referred in the long term, taking over a hundred predictive factors into account while analyzing information from the integrated data system of DHS.

As more cities employ data analytics to examine sensitive data and improve citizen experience, the government of Finland recently partnered with the World Economic Forum to create a blueprint that outlines the best practices for a privacy-aware approach to analyzing the personal data of citizens.

Authorities in the capital city of Finland, Helsinki, conducted an experiment with the aim of improving how sensitive data of its citizens are utilized by ensuring the highest ethical, data protection and cybersecurity standards. They adopted a modular approach to analyzing personal data by separating storage, anonymization and processing.

The blueprint outlines a data management tool that enforces strict governance by defining stakeholders, roles, goals and tasks. To ensure that sensitive data is utilized responsibly, a formal data request detailing how the data will be analyzed is required to obtain permissions for access and analysis.

A modular tool for project management splits the permissions granted for data utilization into five distinct levels, ranging from highly restrictive to more accessible. And a generalized schema for a hybrid cloud architecture, which adheres to global privacy standards, ensures maximum data privacy through anonymity while sensitive data is being processed.

Although these measures are effective at protecting sensitive data stored in a central repository, as cities expand their utilization of data analytics to include emerging technologies such as IoT and the metaverse, additional measures will need to be taken to safeguard the privacy of citizens.

PRESERVING PRIVACY WHILE SCALING ANALYTICS WITH INCREASED DATA POINTS AND CONNECTIVITY

Hayden AI has developed an effective framework to enable government agencies to preserve the privacy of their citizens while video data is processed at scale. The company leverages AIoT devices to detect and capture traffic violations, and it has built in mechanisms to ensure privacy and security every step of the way.

At the edge, Hayden AI employs data analytics to reduce the amount of information sent to cloud servers for processing. The company further minimizes the amount of data retained by preserving only the information about the vehicle of the transgressor involved in the violation.

To ensure data integrity while digital evidence packages of traffic violations are in transmission, the company developed the Hayden AI Data Chain — a patented hyperledger that provides a transparent chain of custody of all interactions with each package. From the moment a digital evidence package is created to each time the package is processed, modified and reviewed within the system.

The Hayden AI Data Chain is built with data privacy features including security-based data-sharing techniques such as horizontal data decoupling and vertical data detracting, smart contract protocols that enforce strict privacy and security controls such as access controls, government-grade encryption and other elements of a standard network security stack such as VPN, SSL/TLS and MFA.

These security protocols are optimized for three levels of data — PII, Sensitive PII and non-PII — with the flexibility to enhance privacy and security constraints as new cyber threats start to emerge.

The insights used for reports and system analysis are derived in-house from metadata that is extracted at the edge, minimizing PII and privacy concerns. And the metadata stays in-house, under the control of Hayden AI data security protocols including access controls with the least privilege.

As Hayden AI expands its offerings to include digital twins, which create dynamic 3D replicas of cities, the company is working on additional measures to preserve privacy. For example, the company is working to implement anonymization at the edge to blur all sensitive image data.

EMPOWERING CITIZENS WITH A PRIVACY-FIRST APPROACH TO DATA ANALYTICS

Although data analytics has the power to improve the performance and sustainability of government agencies and enhance citizens’ experience of municipal services, proactive steps will need to be taken to preserve privacy.

Governments and city authorities are already working to address this issue by creating blueprints that foster a security-first approach to data analytics, which can be adopted by government agencies across the globe. Technology companies like Hayden AI that collaborate with government agencies to drive innovation are also designing solutions that leverage data analytics while protecting privacy.

As new technologies such as the metaverse emerge, government agencies will need to double down on their efforts to ensure that these data-driven opportunities do not come at the cost of personal privacy.

Company bio: Hayden AI is pioneering smart traffic enforcement with its mobile platform to increase the safety, efficiency and sustainability of municipal fleet vehicles. Our platform allows government agencies to enforce traffic laws, while harnessing AIoT data to gain actionable insights that help enhance the quality of life of their communities.