Using Cookie Monster as Inspiration to Protect Privacy in Future Streetscapes
Outcome/Accomplishment
Tomorrow’s smart streetscapes can protect pedestrians and motorists with connected devices while also protecting their privacy in a “CityOS” under development at the Center for Smart Streetscapes (NSF CS3), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Columbia University.
Impact/Benefits
The privacy protections baked into the Center’s new operating system for city streets will help win citizen acceptance for monitoring devices that can enable safer roads and sidewalks.
Explanation/Background
Smart cities increasingly deploy technologies that gather data from public spaces, leading to concerns over personal privacy. To address these challenges early in the development cycle, a core principle of CityOS is that each user's device—a phone, car, or other connected device—retains ultimate control over privacy, monitoring privacy impacts as users interact with CityOS applications across the city. The Center’s work is inspired partly by Cookie Monster, an approach developed at Columbia that enables Web advertisers to move beyond browser cookies to conduct more-private measurements.
Location
New York City, NYwebsite
Start Year
Microelectronics and IT
Quantum, Microelectronics, Sensing, and IT
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Outcome/Accomplishment
Tomorrow’s smart streetscapes can protect pedestrians and motorists with connected devices while also protecting their privacy in a “CityOS” under development at the Center for Smart Streetscapes (NSF CS3), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Columbia University.
Location
New York City, NYwebsite
Start Year
Microelectronics and IT
Quantum, Microelectronics, Sensing, and IT
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Impact/benefits
The privacy protections baked into the Center’s new operating system for city streets will help win citizen acceptance for monitoring devices that can enable safer roads and sidewalks.
Explanation/Background
Smart cities increasingly deploy technologies that gather data from public spaces, leading to concerns over personal privacy. To address these challenges early in the development cycle, a core principle of CityOS is that each user's device—a phone, car, or other connected device—retains ultimate control over privacy, monitoring privacy impacts as users interact with CityOS applications across the city. The Center’s work is inspired partly by Cookie Monster, an approach developed at Columbia that enables Web advertisers to move beyond browser cookies to conduct more-private measurements.