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not resolvedWhen last at the Meadows big playpark, I noticed a grey plastic box, about the size of a large phone, cable-tied to the fence near the western entrance gate. It was marked "Property of University of Edinburgh, IoT".
Anyone else noticed that?
Is this some kind of data-gathering / spying device?
Are they collecting WiFi IP addresses, Bluetooth, etc.?
Do they have the right to do that without consent?
It is one of the most important questions of the modern age
Such a survey box is not forcing your phone to communicate with it
But you can’t choose what boxes to communicate with unless you disable all radios when you lock your phone
"The project installed Audio Capture Devices (ACDs) at several locations across the Meadows. The ACDs regularly capture short clips of ultrasonic and audible noises of bats, birds and other wildlife, traffic, and human activity in real time. The sounds are be combined with other data from sensors, such as light, temperature and humidity, and will be used to answer questions such as: How active is the bat population around the Meadows? Does traffic noise change animal behaviour over the course of a day? What is the pattern of human activity during different seasons of the year?"
Sounds like it contains a thermometer so be careful not to breathe on it in case they find out what your body temperature is.
This is outrageous! I see no evidence that the bats have given their consent to have their most private conversations recorded! #meadowsbatstalking
The lead developer of the IoT project gave a talk on this at last years FLOSSUK conference:
Warning: may contain traces of IT
There's a nationwide rollout of IoT infrastructure currently underway - IoT Scotland being one such programme. Other providers are interested in Scotland too.
I should think for capturing audio (albeit partly scrambled, but who knows how effective this is in terms of privacy) in a public place, the same rules as for CCTV would apply:
i.e. you are not allowed to have private CCTV viewing a public place without authorisation, signs, etc. And I'm pretty sure that sound is not allowed in any case.
@jonty
we are placing the Audio Capture Devices in trees
I'm not sure that the box I saw is related to the CitySounds project. It was grey plastic and not wooden as shown in the CitySounds pictures and it was not mounted in a tree.
(Unless of course their statements are misleading)
In any case, why isn't the privacy statement and contact details attached to the device (or at least a link / QR-code to them)?
I also wouldn't be surprised if Infomatics students at Univ of Edinburgh don't find novel (and possibly intrusive) ways to use this data, attempt to hack it, etc.
Paraphrased extracts:
These devices will capture wide spectrum audio in the range 0Hz to 96KHz, enabling audio traits both within and beyond normal human hearing range to be captured...
all data is uploaded to Univ of Edin servers...
an automated process that ‘scrambles’ any sounds that might be human speech...
before sharing with the wider world...
only a very few samples will be inspected manually by 2 observers to check for intelligible speech...
What could go wrong?
We will ensure that appropriate information sheets are displayed in already established signage points in the Meadows.
Hmmm. Never seen one.
Could be part of the Parklife project, which also involves wi-fi hotspots "disguised" as plastic owls. Clearly a few dedicated tokers in the University's IoT department...
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