Research examines how insufficiently regulated smart-city software vendors may obtain and potentially abuse significant power over both users and municipalities.
Parking-payment apps have become a routine part of daily life, providing a convenient way for motorists to pay for parking using their phones. But new research from Ariel University examines what happens when private software companies that provide smart-government services are inadequately regulated.
The study, “Power and Ethical Concerns in the Integration of Smart City Technologies: A Case Study of Parking Payment Applications in Israel,” was conducted by Dr. Jonathan Dortheimer and Gilad Chalfon of Ariel University’s Architectural Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Urban Technology.
Using parking-payment applications as a case study, the researchers examine how smart-city application developers may gain significant power over users and municipalities, including mechanisms through which that power can generate additional revenue.
The study collected revenue and parking-enforcement data from municipalities and found that while citizens were paying significantly more each year for parking, they were also being fined more for non-payment.
A complementary survey of 278 participants found that 32.3% reported receiving a parking violation notification despite using one of the apps. The reasons varied considerably, including forgetting to activate parking, activating the app in the wrong location, failing to reactivate payment after the maximum parking time had elapsed, technical errors with the app and other user-related issues.
Through a comprehensive analysis, the study examines how software vendors may obtain and potentially abuse significant power over users and municipalities, and the different ways in which that power may be exercised. Examples examined in the paper include using the punitive power of the law to extract premium payments, manipulating data, instances the researchers identify as potentially involving breaches of existing law, mobilising users against municipalities, and leveraging design flaws.
Rather than focusing solely on whether a parking application is convenient or technologically efficient, the research examines the broader power dynamics that can develop between private software providers, users and public authorities.
Parking applications provide a particularly useful case study because they are an ordinary and widely used form of smart-city technology. The research demonstrates that important questions concerning technological power and regulation can arise not only from highly visible technologies, but also through everyday digital services that become integrated into urban life.
The study examines these issues within the broader process of platformization, in which digital platforms become increasingly important intermediaries in interactions between individuals, commercial organisations and public institutions.
According to the researchers, the significance of the case therefore extends beyond parking. As governments increasingly incorporate privately developed software and applications into smart services, the capacity of these companies to exercise power over both users and public authorities becomes an important issue for urban governance and technology regulation.
“The concern is not whether these applications provide a convenient service. Our research examines how, when smart-city apps are not adequately regulated, they may obtain and potentially abuse significant power over both their users and municipalities,” said Dr. Jonathan Dortheimer.
“The examples examined in the study show that this power can take different forms, from leveraging ‘dark design’ patterns and manipulating data to using the punitive power of the law and mobilising users against authorities.”
The research highlights the importance of examining how government software providers are regulated and what forms of power they may acquire as private digital technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday urban environments.
Study:
Power and Ethical Concerns in the Integration of Smart City Technologies: A Case Study of Parking Payment Applications in Israel
Dr. Jonathan Dortheimer and Gilad Chalfon
Journal of Urban Technology
https://www.tandfonline.com/
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