Las Vegas was hit by a cyber attack on 7 January which followed an earlier attack in New Orleans, with the city declaring a state of emergency on 13 December. The threat of cyber attacks is growing as cities digitalise their services and use datasets to provide more efficient delivery to citizens.
Public administrators, public tech developers, and public service providers face the same challenge: How to develop and use technology in accordance with public values like openness, fairness, and inclusivity? The question is urgent as we continue to rely upon proprietary technology that is developed within a surveillance capitalist context and is incompatible with the goals and missions of our democratic institutions. This problem has been a driving force behind the development of the public stack, a conceptual model developed by Waag through ACROSS and other projects, which roots technical development in public values.
The idea behind the public stack is simple: There are unseen layers behind the technology we use, including hardware, software, design processes, and business models. All of these layers affect the relationship between people and technology – as consumers, subjects, or (as the public stack model advocates) citizens and human beings in a democratic society. The public stack challenges developers, funders, and other stakeholders to develop technology based on shared public values by utilising participatory design processes and open technology. The goal is to position people and the planet as democratic agents; and as more equal stakeholders in deciding how technology is developed and implemented.
ACROSS is a Horizon2020 European project that develops open source resources to protect digital identity and personal data across European borders. In this context, Waag is developing the public stack model into a service design approach – a resource to help others reflect upon and improve the extent to which their own ‘stack’ is reflective of public values. In late 2022, Waag developed a method using the public stack as a lens to prompt reflection amongst developers. A more extensive public stack reflection process is now underway in ACROSS; resources to guide other developers through this same process will be made available later in 2023.
The public stack is a useful model for anyone involved in technology, whether as a developer, funder, active, or even passive user. In the case of ACROSS, its adoption helped project partners to implement decentralised privacy-by-design technology based on values like privacy and user control. The model lends itself to be applied just as well in other use cases:
Are you interested in using the public stack in your own project, initiative, or development process? We’d love to hear about it. Let us know more by emailing us at publicstack@waag.org.
The aim of the three-day Data Spaces Symposium is to bring together relevant data sharing initiatives and endeavors. The event is hosted by the Center of Excellence for Data Sharing and Cloud (TNO), International Data Spaces Association, the Basic Data Infrastructure network and the Data Spaces Support Centre.
During the event you can get involved in aligning the diverse landscape of data space initiatives, learn from successfully running data space projects, and discover the business benefits of sovereign data sharing.
Find out more and register by March 17 via: https://internationaldataspaces.org/data-spaces-symposium/
Het delen van data is een belangrijke motor voor vooruitgang in de samenleving. Ook als die informatie gevoelig is voor privacy en concurrentie. AMdEX, een initiatief van Amsterdam Economic Board en partners, ontwikkelt een manier om data veilig en verantwoord te kunnen delen, met behoud van controle voor data-eigenaars.
Sander Klous (KPMG) is een van de partners die het team achter AMdEX ondersteunen. Dit team werkt aan de ontwikkeling van een 'digitale notaris', die contracten levert aan organisaties die data willen delen. Ook dwingt AMdEX de voorwaarden hierin juridisch af. De contracten ondersteunen eenvoudige datatransacties tussen twee organisaties. Maar ook complexe AI-algoritmen, die toegang moeten hebben tot data die op meerdere plekken is opgeslagen.
“Momenteel zijn er geen goede mechanismen om de naleving van de vele regels en voorschriften rond data en AI af te dwingen of zelfs maar te controleren”, zegt Sander Klous. “In andere regelgevingsdomeinen stellen bedrijven als KPMG, als onafhankelijke derde partij, organisaties in staat om hun compliance aan te tonen via een auditproces. Helaas is dit proces ingewikkeld wanneer het gaat om data en AI."
