Data Protection and Smart Cities

Abstract

General Data Protection Regulation, the recent update of the world’s most developed legal framework of personal data protection, has been fully in force in the European Union since May 2018. As a new chapter in European data protection development, the Regulation is an instrument of uniformization replacing the older Data Protection Directive framework and its national transposition measures. GDPR also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas when required for electronic commerce, information society services such as cloud services, on-demand streaming, and other content services or for more traditional purposes such as civil aviation traffic, cargo and passenger shipping, etc. Compliance with the Regulation in the context of Smart City development strategy now includes analyzing the impact of several evolving technological trends such as the Internet of Things, Big Data and biometrics-enabled video-surveillance, utility payment systems, and all other kinds of services based on gathering large amount of personal data. GDPR has adopted a significant number of compliance mechanisms already familiar from information security standards and infosec legislation. For Smart City data controllers, this means adapting their advancements and deployment of new services and products to meet data protection standards.