Legal Considerations and Ethical Challenges of Artificial Intelligence on Internet of Things and Smart Cities

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoTs) within Smart Cities have gained wider relevance in various dimensions especially in how humans interact with these technologies and the need to share data. Various IoTs such as smart devices including phones, appliances in the home and in industry, are used in daily life to keep up with growing trends of attaining information at our fingertips. These IoT devices within Smart Cities covers industries such as health, sports, and education amongst many. The advantages of these IoTs includes their ability to talk to each other in a connection of networks across “Cyberspace”, allowing for transfer of data to happen quickly and efficiently. However, these devices are now presenting numerous challenges including those related to privacy, security, and data breaches, and those pertaining to ethical, legal, and jurisdictional matters. IoTs cover a broad range of proprietary hardware and software that often use different data formats, network or communication protocols, and physical interfaces resulting in technical challenges. IoT devices also work on the concept of ‘Big Data’ and lean on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques and its algorithms, to process and perform analysis enabling data management for human consumption. These large quantities of data are often private and sensitive, travelling through “Cyberspace”, transferring data along the way. Disadvantageously, this creates a wider security attack surface for potential malicious activities to occur. With surveillance being the biggest challenge of Smart Cities, the “Big Brother is watching you” attitudes, and how that crosses over to the ethics involved in data collection is questioned. This chapter focuses on the challenges of these intelligent software’s and how the influence of the human element holds barriers to the security of IoTs. Perceptions of security and privacy concerning these devices are also discussed. The concept of “Cookies” used in IoTs, as a tracking tool for online web surfing and its safety measures, will also be shoehorned into this debate and how awareness should be raised around it. The impact of Covid-19 on businesses and relevance of IoTs in business continuity and disaster recovery will also be explored in the shift in work patterns from the office environment to working from home. Reports set out by technical advisory groups that contribute to understanding of IoTs will also be explored in its coping mechanisms in living alongside them. Anti-forensic methods, jurisdiction and service level agreements (SLAs) all further aggravate technical, privacy, security and legal challenges, and the presence of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its effects on IoTs and the human elements involved, will be further explored in understanding how to keep these devices safe and secure.