San Jose Smart City
Information Certainty: Speculative
Deployment Purpose: Surveillance
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Products and Institutions:
| Product Deployed | Unknown Products 0033 |
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| Datasets | Unknown Dataset 0077 |
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Status and Events:
| Status | Ongoing |
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Users:
| Involved Entities | Unknown Institution 0057 |
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| Managed by | City of San Jose |
| Used by | City of San Jose |
Location:
| City | San Jose (CA) |
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| Country ⠉ | USA |
Description[ ]
San Jose began rolling out smart city initiatives in 2016. In 2018, major plans for data based city planning and management got underway. While it cannot be identified whether facial recognition is at play, the numerous and experimental public/private partnerships, the emphasis on data driven security and the installation of sensors and cameras into streetlights would point towards that potential. Furthermore the City chose Oracle as a partner for its cloud services. Oracle can have facial recognition plugged in.
The city has also received recognition for the way it now incorporates more data into its planning processes. Before, the city relied on old-fashioned paper maps and traffic count numbers, but officials realized that this process left out information from significant sources 1
Perhaps the most noticeable change to residents has come in the form of a revamped customer relationship management system. Previously, the city relied on an error-prone and redundant process, with departments passing thousands of emails to one another as they tried to stay on top of each case. San Jose’s mayor and city council prioritized implementing a better solution. The city moved to an omnichannel system centered on a mobile app and online portal called My San Jose (now San Jose 311). San Jose built its mobile app platform with Oracle Data Visualization and Oracle Service Cloud, among other technologies 1
Although the city favors proven solutions over highly hyped smart city technologies, San Jose has also seen success by giving people the freedom to experiment. Through fellowships, competitions and corporate partnerships, the city has uncovered a number of high-impact solutions 1
One city fellow developed an algorithm to identify high-risk buildings for code enforcement. Another produced an algorithm that is highly accurate in predicting youth violence and potential blind spots. The winners of an “Unleash Your Geek” competition sponsored by the city came up with a drone that removes graffiti from highway overpasses. And Airbnb worked with the city to find hosts willing to provide space to homeless students. Even when things don’t go perfectly, Liccardo says, the city sometimes still sees benefits. For instance, Facebook partnered with the city to test a solution to provide free Wi-Fi to residents, with the aim of ultimately deploying the technology in developing countries. The technology evolved from the original design, and the city is now using technology from the project to support its own public Wi-Fi efforts. “We were happy to be the guinea pig, because Facebook was willing to contribute their resources and people,” Liccardo says. Officials hope the new Innovation Zone on the city’s west side will spur further innovation. The district was announced in January, and the effort was put on hold shortly afterward due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the Innovation Zone has already attracted partners such as the scooter company Bird, which plans to use the area to test “anti-sidewalk” technology that would use sensors to keep scooters off city sidewalks 1
Dodge, the founder of the Citizens Privacy Coalition of Santa Clara County, has advocated for stricter and more regulated surveillance technology as the city looks to turn to more so-called “smart city” initiatives, which use sensors and other electronic media to collect data. While smart cities use such technology to track urban services like water and electricity, the technology can just as easily be used to track individuals. Advocates say that the technology is moving too fast for government to keep up, which necessitates an ordinance on surveillance tech 2
In 2021 the City voted not to regulate surveillance technologies.
On Monday, the San Jose City Council will vote whether or not they should do something their Bay Area neighbors have already done: prioritize the regulation of surveillance technology. Oakland, San Francisco, Davis, Berkeley, Alameda, Santa Clara County, and even BART have all taken action to bring more oversight to the acquisition of surveillance technology. But San Jose, a city that prides itself on being the “Capital of Silicon Valley” chooses not to regulate the technology that is being developed in its own backyard 3
References
- a b c d e "San Jose Invests in Smart City Tech as a Force Multiplier". (2020) <https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2020/07/san-jose-invests-smart-city-tech-force-multiplier> Accessed: 2022-06-30
- a b "San Jose activists, council member push surveillance regulation". (2021) <https://sanjosespotlight.com/local-activists-councilmember-push-for-surveillance-regulation/> Accessed: 2022-06-30
- a b "Dodge: True police reform requires regulating surveillance tech, San Jose". (2021) <https://sanjosespotlight.com/dodge-true-police-reform-requires-regulating-surveillance-tech-san-jose/> Accessed: 2022-06-30