Smart City and Privacy Concerns During COVID-19: Lessons from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia

Abstract

Although smart technologies for managing urban problems have gained traction in Southeast Asia, citizens, experts, and policymakers continue to express concerns over data protection and security. Smart technologies, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), are perceived as enablers for cities to control air pollution, reduce traffic, streamline public services, and make energy use more efficient. Yet experts underline that smart technologies’ personal and behavioral data have not been adequately protected, thus bringing significant risk to individual privacy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has further intensified the dialogue to address privacy concerns in the digital sphere. Drawing from the experience of COVID-19 tracing applications in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, this chapter finds that despite concerns about technical issues and accessibility, the practice of surveillance and the effectiveness of such technology adoption to fight COVID-19 remain in debate. The dialogue on data protection in the digital sphere has been more complex as there are contesting interests between the need to ensure public safety and the need to protect individual privacy.