Realising the right to data portability for the domestic Internet of Things

There is an increasing role for the IT design community to play in regulation of emerging IT. Article 25 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016 puts this on a strict legal basis by establishing the need for information privacy by design and default (PbD) for personal data-driven technologies. Against this backdrop, we examine legal, commercial and technical perspectives around the newly created legal right to data portability (RTDP) in GDPR. We are motivated by a pressing need to address regulatory challenges stemming from the Internet of Things (IoT). We need to find channels to support the protection of these new legal rights for users in practice. In Part I we introduce the internet of things and information PbD in more detail. We briefly consider regulatory challenges posed by the IoT and the nature and practical challenges surrounding the regulatory response of information privacy by design. In Part II, we look in depth at the legal nature of the RTDP, determining what it requires from IT designers in practice but also limitations on the right and how it relates to IoT. In Part III we focus on technical approaches that can support the realisation of the right. We consider the state of the art in data management architectures, tools and platforms that can provide portability, increased transparency and user control over the data flows. In Part IV, we bring our perspectives together to reflect on the technical, legal and business barriers and opportunities that will shape the implementation of the RTDP in practice, and how the relationships may shape emerging IoT innovation and business models. We finish with brief conclusions about the future for the RTDP and PbD in the IoT

The Consent Paradox: Accounting for the Prominent Role of Consent in Data Protection

The concept of consent is a central pillar of data protection. It features prominently in research, regulation, and public debates on the subject, in spite of the wide-ranging criticisms that have been levelled against it. In this paper, I refer to this as the consent paradox. I argue that consent continues to play a central role not despite but because the criticisms of it. I analyze the debate on consent in the scholarly literature in general, and among German data protection professionals in particular, showing that it is a focus on the informed individual that keeps the concept of consent in place. Critiques of consent based on the notion of “informedness” reinforce the centrality of consent rather than calling it into question. They allude to a market view that foregrounds individual choice. Yet, the idea of a data market obscures more fundamental objections to consent, namely the individual’s dependency on data controllers’ services that renders the assumption of free choice a fiction

Microstructured catalytic hollow fiber reactor for methane steam reforming

Microstructured alumina hollow fibers, which contain a plurality of radial microchannels with significant openings on the inner surface, have been fabricated in this study and used to develop an efficient catalytic hollow fiber reactor. Apart from low mass-transfer resistance, a unique structure of this type facilitates the incorporation of Ni-based catalysts, which can be with or without the aged secondary support, SBA-15. In contrast to a fixed bed reactor, the catalytic hollow fiber reactor shows similar methane conversion, with a gas hourly space velocity that is approximately 6.5 times higher, a significantly greater CO2 selectivity, and better productivity rates. These results demonstrate the advantages of dispersing the catalyst inside the microstructured hollow fiber as well as the potential to reduce the required quantity of catalyst

Approximate Pattern Matching using Hierarchical Graph Construction and Sparse Distributed Representation

With recent developments in deep networks, there have been significant advances in visual object detection and recognition. However, some of these networks are still easily fooled/hacked and have shown “bag of features” failures. Some of this is due to the fact that even deep networks make only marginal use of the complex structure that exists in real-world images, even after training on huge numbers of images. Biology appears to take advantage of such a structure, but how? In our research, we are studying approaches for robust pattern matching using still, 2D Blocks World images based on graphical representations of the various components of an image. Such higher order information represents the “structure” of the visual object. Here we discuss how the structural information of an image can be captured in a Sparse Distributed Representation (SDR) loosely based on cortical circuits. We apply probabilistic graph isomorphism and subgraph isomorphism to our 2D Blocks World images and achieve O (1) and O (nk ) complexity for an approximate match. The optimal match is an NP-Hard problem. The image labeled graph is created using OpenCV to find the object contours and objects\u27 labels and a fixed radius nearest neighbor algorithm to build the edges between the objects. Pattern matching is done using the properties of SDRs. Our research shows the promise of applying graph-based neuromorphic techniques for pattern matching of images based on such structur

“Qualifying peripheries” or “repolarizing the center”: A comparison of gentrification processes in Europe

7sinoneReflecting a broader form of neo-liberal urban policy underlying the progressive return of capital investment, gentrification is a key issue in urban studies. Although earlier definitions of “gentrification” focused mostly on socio-cultural processes, recent works have qualified gentrification as a mixed political–economic issue. Clarifying whether inner city gentrification should be supported, controlled, constricted, or prevented is a key debate in urban sustainability and metabolism, contributing to managing and, possibly, enhancing metropolitan resilience. To define the causes and consequences of gentrification, understanding the intrinsic linkage with different social contexts is crucial. There are no universal and comprehensive gentrification processes, displaying similarities and differences at the same time. A comparative analysis of different forms of gentrification and urban change provides basic knowledge to delineate complex, non-linear paths of socioeconomic development in cities, shedding light on the increased socioeconomic complexity and the most appropriate policies to fuel metropolitan sustainability in a broader context of global change. From this perspective, our commentary focuses on the main issues at the base of gentrification in Europe, starting from basic definitions and providing a regional vision distinguishing three “gentrification ideal-types” (northern, eastern, and Mediterranean). The implications of these different socioeconomic processes for the policy and governance of sustainable and resilient cities were discussed, evidencing new lines of investigation to frame (or re-frame) the increasing complexity of urbanization patterns and processes.noneNickayin S.S.; Halbac-Cotoara-zanfir R.; Clemente M.; Chelli F.M.; Salvati L.; Benassi F.; Morera A.G.Nickayin, S. S.; Halbac-Cotoara-zanfir, R.; Clemente, M.; Chelli, F. M.; Salvati, L.; Benassi, F.; Morera, A. G

Towards a roadmap for privacy technologies and the general data protection regulation: A transatlantic initiative

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation is poised to present major challenges in bridging the gap between law and technology. This paper reports on a workshop on the deployment, content and design of the GDPR that brought together academics, practitioners, civil-society actors, and regulators from the EU and the US. Discussions aimed at advancing current knowledge on the use of abstract legal terms in the context of applied technologies together with best practices following state of the art technologies. Five themes were discussed: state of the art, consent, de-identification, transparency, and development and deployment practices. Four traversal conflicts were identified, and research recommendations were outlined to reconcile these conflicts.status: publishe