Connected technologies and always-on data flows are helping make today’s cities and communities more livable, productive, and sustainable. At the same time, these technologies raise concerns about individual privacy, freedom of choice, and institutional discrimination. How do we leverage the benefits of a data-rich society while giving members of our community the confidence of knowing their privacy is protected? How can we address pressing local problems — from housing to highways, potholes to policing — and deliver public services in equitable, privacy-conscious ways?
Working collaboratively with public, private, academic, and civil society leaders, FPF builds tools and best practices to guide how cities and local communities collect, manage, and use personal data to improve services for individuals. A cornerstone of this work is FPF’s Civic Privacy Leaders Network, a peer network supported by the National Science Foundation that brings together privacy leaders from 30+ local governments across the U.S. and Canada to navigate emerging privacy issues, share practical guidance, and promote fair and transparent data practices.
Visit the Smart Communities Resources web page for a comprehensive list of FPF’s ongoing work in this area.
NIST Calls Data Privacy "Achilles' Heel" of the Smart Grid
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today released the draft NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards. The draft highlights privacy as an issue that must be addressed as Smart Grid technologies continue to be implemented. Key points from the report include: “The major benefit provided by the Smart Grid, i.e. the ability to get […]
Live Blogging From GridWeek
Round Two: Updates today will be from our smart grid privacy fellow Matt Gruenberg: Session on end user perspectives: do utilities truly understand their customers? Ohio Consumers Counsel J.M. Ostrander only way demand response can work is if consumer understand it Viktor Mayer-Schönberger on forgetting in a digital age http://bit.ly/NfALa Are grid folks thinking about […]
Privacy and the Power Grid
Grid Week 2009 comes to Washington, DC this week and this year’s gathering features some of America’s top policymakers: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Aneesh Chopra, the Obama Administration’s CTO. In the coming years, these officials and their departments will make critical decisions about the future of smart grid […]
Future of Privacy Forum Reply Comments on the Report to NIST on the Smart Grid
Comments on the Report to NIST on the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap