1.
Introduction ^
This paper briefly expresses, firstly, what are these Smart Cities1. The paper presents also some of their services and shows that, as it was the case with the previous developments in relation to electronic trade and government, these services may not be implanted without the design of systems that are friendly with the rights of citizens/users, the rights of those who develop and provide them the rules of functioning of public services including those relating to applications of Open Data.
2.
What are Smart Cities? ^
As there are Smart phones there are also Smart cities. The first are terminals that provide users of telephone communications, internet access and services, accommodated to the needs, interests and the will of those users. Smart cities are the set of services, accessible by Smartphones, tablets or computers, that provide to citizens and authorities of some of the resources necessary to live in them2.
These cities have organizations that are designed to exploit jointly developed services and even to manage them in the form of federations of smart cities3.
For the construction of the services it is using information provided by different sensors that capture it from the measurement of temperatures, energy consumption, environmental change, moving vehicles and transportation, the movement of people...
3.
Services in development: examples ^
On the other hand there are programs running that allow recovery in quick and effective form information that is available on the Internet. If we look at the Google search engine, for example, increasingly it provides more thoughtful answers to those users on who it learns what are their habits, uses and tastes/feelings.4
All of the above realizes that it can be developed services that detect, depending on what is the temperature inside a house, for example, the time in which the heating or the cooling must be switched off automatically. It is in development, also, services establishing through the use of traffic lights and other signs free routes for the movement of services of urgency, or transport vehicles that make provision of goods. There are computer programs that indicate whether there are or not free parking spaces for cars and allow book them for a certain time. Other programs report the degree of existing or planned environmental pollution in a particular street or the parks of a city tour, and therefore indicate to a user that suffer a particular disease whether or not it is advisable for it to take the concrete way. There are services that provide information on the existence or not of bicycles at a certain station to store and collect them, as well as close to a concrete existing service: restaurants, food shops, shops, museums... Other services/programs offered cultural agendas tailored to the tastes of users. Other programs/services build travel routes or sightseeing tours in specific cities...5
4.
The design of programs: the legal regulation. ^
- The construction of programs and databases.
- The communication’s architecture between users, programs and databases.
- The attention to the requirements of the current regulations for the construction and use of the programs/services.
4.1.
The design of the programs ^
4.2.
The legal regulation ^
The paradox is that the legal regulation on Smart Cities takes part today of regulation that promotes the realization of research and development of them6, or agreements that may exist between the administrative organizations, this is municipalities that fundamentally are responsible of the design of programs and services for cities7. This constitutes an obstacle to the positivists theories of law: those that are limited to study the law by an exegesis of their rules. For these theories, and the dogmatic/science of law, if there are no laws, they cannot propose legal considerations. For other legal theories such as the communicative theory of law, that is dealing with the study of activities and their accommodation or not to the principles and values of a democratic society, there are no such difficulties.8
From the last perspective we can say that the juridical approach is necessary for the design of services or programs. This approach is required to propose the standards which must be addressed in the design and implementation of intelligent programs/services, given the character and function of its services and legal/value requirements that they have to meet, as we have pointed out previously. Other services/systems may not be used also due to the manifest illegality in which would incur those who used them9.
- The protection of personal data.
- The regulation on transparency and open data.
- The guarantee of responsibility on the proposals of the services to the users.
- Compliance with the administrative requirements in the case of provision of legal services.
4.3.
The protection of personal data ^
The first requirement to satisfy with the intelligence services is the compliance with the legislation on protection of personal data. This is so because, as we have stated, the systems/services are established for the use of the personal data of its users. We must remember here that the technical security measures are part of the legislation on protection of personal data, at least this is the case in Spain.10
4.4.
The regulation on transparency and use of open data ^
This is permitted and regulated in detail by the European directives and the State laws concerning access to information, reuse of public data and transparency.11
4.5.
The guarantee of responsibility on the proposals of the services to the users ^
This aspect is still more relevant when it uses information that is originated from public administrations. There are frequent declarations, in those cases, on the exemption from liability in the use of the information that they provide. Thus it occurs, for example, with the Spanish Agency of Meteorology (AEMET). It is indicated in its legal notice: «AEMET declines any responsibility for damages which may be caused by the interpretation and use of the information put at the disposal of the citizens in this Web.»12
The above expresses that the smart service providers must make clear provisions on responsibilities for the use of its services and collect them in contracts with those who give the data and those who use its services.13
4.6.
The compliance with the administrative requirements in the case of provision of legal services ^
In cases such as the expressed the importance of attention to the legal aspects is added to the previously-expressed cases once the issue is in fact expressed in detail in the rules and regulations with which has to adhere strictly to this content at the time of construction program for the purpose of clarifying responsibilities.14
On the other hand this type of service in which the Government services are electronically accessed, the regulation requires that the services comply with the rules and standards established by law, precisely the concerning to the electronic access to services of the public administrations by citizens.15
5.
Conclusion ^
6.
References ^
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Ciudad 2020 website. http://www.innprontaciudad2020.es/index.php/en. Last accessed 30 December 2013 (2013).
Douglas-Scott, Sionaidh, Law after Modernity, Oxford, pp. 382–396 (2013).
Galindo, Fernando, The communicative concept of Law. In: Journal of legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, Vol. 40, pp. 111–129 (1998).
Gibson,David V/ Kozmetsky, George/ Smilor, Raymond W. (eds.) The Technopolis Phenomenon: Smart Cities, Fast Systems, Global Networks, Boston, p. 4 (1992).
Lazaroiua, George Cristian/ Roscia, Maria Cristina, Definition methodology for the smart cities model. In: Energy, Vol. 47, pp. 326–332 (2012).
Lee, Jung Hoon/ Phaal, Robert/ Lee, Sang-Ho, An integrated service-device-technology roadmap for smart City development. In: Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Vol. 80, pp. 283–306 (2013).
Ossowski, Sascha, Agreement Technologies, Dordrecht, 645 p. (2013).
Paskaleva, Krassimira, Enabling the smart city: the progress of city e-governance in Europe. In International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, Vol. 1, N. 4, pp.405–422 (2009).
Fernando Galindo
Professor, University of Zaragoza, Department of Penal Law, Philosophy of Law and History of Law
Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza ES,
cfa@unizar.es; http://lefis.unizar.es/
The paper is based, partially, on the activities developed in the projects:
Ciudad2020, INNPRONTA Project IPT-20111006, funded by the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technological Development, the University of Zaragoza participates in the project as advisor of the Atos Research @ Innovation (ATI) Division of the firm Atos, and Participation in the knowledge society through the activities of the e-Government Observatory. Political, economic and empirical aspects, Project HBP2011-0029, funded by the Spanish-Brazilian ministries of education interuniversity cooperation program.
- 1 In 1990 a definition on the topic was: «Technopole» is «a city of technology on wihch the activities pivote». Gibson (1992). The present paper is more coherent with European positions that broad the view on smart cities with network and partnership development, integrated e-services, e-participation and policy innovation: Paskaleva (2009).
- 2 These definitions like to made clear the text to the interested persons. The approaches to smart cities are not simple. It is possible to see several «roapmaps» to the making and definition of smart cities in Lee (2013). Another example is based in the limits to the explotation of Energy: Lazarioua (2012).
- 3 The most relevant reference in this paper is the INNPRONTA project CIUDAD 2020, that aims to achieve a significant advanced in the areas of energy efficiency, internet of the future, internet of the things, human behavior, environmental sustainability and mobility & transport in order to design the city of the future: sustainable, smart and efficient. See: Ciudad 2020 (2013). The section summarizes the general characteristics of the planned and in development activities of the project. The project will be finished in 2014, this is a preliminary summary.
- 4 See some news on the development of search algorithm of Google, for example in: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com.es/2013/09/fifteen-years-onand-were-just-getting.html#uds-search-results. Last accessed 30 December 2013.
- 5 See the content of these services in development in the Ciudad 2020 project in: http://www.innprontaciudad2020.es/index.php/en/documentacion-ficheros-relativos-al-proyecto/4-entregables. Last accessed 30 December 2013.
- 6 There is in Spain a technical Committee to develop industrial standards for smart cities. See: http://www.aenor.es/aenor/normas/ctn/fichactn.asp?codigonorm=AEN/CTN%20178#.UsFCRdLuKSo. Last accessed 30 December 2013. It is also in ISO the ISO/TC 268 Sustainable development in communities Committee http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=656906. Last accessed 30 December 2013. Anyway there are not yet approved standards.
- 7 This is the case of «smartcity» the Spanish Network of Smart Cities. See the web page in: http://www.redciudadesinteligentes.es/. Last accessed 30 December 2013.
- 8 See in this respect Galindo (1998). Another position establishes the connexion between legal aspects and governance: Douglas-Scott (2013).
- 9 The juridical basic requirements in the project Ciudad 2020 are located in: http://www.innprontaciudad2020.es/index.php/en/documentacion-ficheros-relativos-al-proyecto/white-papers/28-proteccion-de-datos-personales. Last accessed 30 December 2013.
- 10 The Organic Law 15/1999, of December 13 on the protection of personal data was completed by Royal Decree 1720/2007, of December 21, approving the Regulations implementing Organic Law 15/1999, of December 13 on the protection of personal data, which also updates the contents of the Regulations on security measures for automated files containing personal data of June 11, 1999, making good use of the experience gained in this respect by means of maintaining the security measures by the Personal Data Protection Agency.
- 11 Spanish Law 37/2007, of November 16, on the reuse of public sector information, Royal Decree 1495/2011, of October 24, which develops Law 37/2007, of November 16, on the reuse of public sector information for the state public sector environment, Law 19/2013, of December 13 on Transparency, Access to public Information and Good Governance. European: on April 15, 2013, the Council of the European Union amended the Directive 2003/98/EC on the Reuse of Public Sector Information; on June 13, 2013 the European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution of 13 June 2013 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/98/EC on re-use of public sector information (COM(2011)0877 – C7-0502/2011 – 2011/0430(COD)).
- 12 See: http://www.aemet.es/es/nota_legal. Last accessed 30 December 2013.
- 13 See the relevance of these kind of agreements in Ossowski (2013).
- 14 See for a very interesting state of the art: Casella (2011).
- 15 Spanish Law 11/2007 of 22 June for electronic access of citizens to public services.