P-PITEE uses design methods to develop new policies for transparent and ethical deployment of secure Internet of Things sensors in public spaces.

Local governments need to account for practical, technical and ethical considerations when using IoT sensors in public spaces and when managing proposals for installation and use by others. By partnering with a local council, this project will allow development of policy and guidance tools relating to the use of secure IoT sensors in public spaces. This will cover collection, use and sharing of data, considerations of data transfer vs edge processing, cybersecurity questions relating to data storage and sharing, and how all these concerns can impact on privacy.

The project explores using participatory methods to engage with a variety of stakeholders including local SMEs, local residents, and community groups. The project will develop a new, robust policy for ethical use of IoT data in Lancaster, research publications on interdisciplinary topics including design for technology policy and the ethical management and cybersecurity implications of public space IoT and associated data, and a fully implemented IoT Transparency Guidelines tool which can be used by organisations who are considering IoT deployments and wish to consider the transparency aspects and ethical data use.