See No…, Hear No…, Track No…: Ethics and the Intelligent Campus

Abstract

Many authors have expressed concerns about privacy in smart cities, where public spaces are continually monitored. Intelligent campuses – which feature an even more intricate web of public and private, living, working and social spaces – might seem to pose an even greater challenge. However campuses are more likely to be controlled by a single organisation, making it simpler to apply a consistent approach to the selection and design of their systems and controls. This paper examines the sensors likely to be deployed on an intelligent campus and assesses their risk using an extension of a framework approved by European regulators for Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. Two ethical frameworks – for Information & Communications Technology (ICT) research and for public services – are applied to suggest how intelligent campus applications should be chosen, designed and reviewed in order to make them acceptable to their occupants. The barriers to delivering ‘smart citizenship’ are examined, concluding that intelligent campuses should find it easier to become truly ‘citizen-centric’. By moving the privacy focus from individual consent and fault-correction, after hazardous systems have been deployed, to empowering occupants in creating safer spaces through consensus, and making institutions accountable for delivering them, intelligent campuses can give confidence to both their managers and those who use them.