Smart Cities: Digital Utopia or Privacy Dystopia? A critical analysis of Singapore's 'Smart Nation 2.0'

Speaker: Joyce Ng (BitOwl) Launched in 2014, The Singapore Government's Smart Nation Initiative aims 'to build better, meaningful, and fulfilled lives for our people, enabled by technology'. In a speech given by then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the launch of the Smart Nation initiative, he emphasized the goals of improving citizens’ lives and allowing them to connect with each other through the use of sensors and smart devices, as well as enhancing economic productivity and exploring new opportunities through such technology. In October 2024, the Smart Nation initiative was refreshed as 'Smart Nation 2.0'. Of the many projects under Smart Nation initiative, we will focus primarily on the Open Digital Platform and Singpass Face Verification (SFV)/Identiface, as they represent a new push for centralization and surveillance that most other countries have not yet implemented, displaying how other countries may follow suit in the future. The Open Digital Platform (ODP) is digital infrastucture is designed to be controlling physical infrastructure, such as facilities, building and estate management systems from central command, control and communication (C3) dashboard. A key component of the ODP is the 'digital twin', an electronic simulation of physical towns and objects for remote monitoring and predictive simulations. What data is necessary to build and maintain this 'digital twin', and how will that data be used? Singpass Face Verification (SFV) integrates facial recognition into Singapore's national identity scheme, requiring users to register their facial data in order to access crucial government and financial services. Could this prevent certain demographics of people from accessing those services, such as transgender persons undergoing gender affirming treatment? Does this also create a database of facial scans of all its citizens, which could then be used to profile marginalized demographics? Smart Nation 2.0 already shows signs of influence by far-right actors in Singapore, with the Smart Nation 2.0 policy report platforming known US linked, Christian far-right group Focus on the Family, which works closely with government-linked groups such as Families for Life. Does centralization of physical and personal data in the hands of the government puts it at risk of takeover by malicious actors who infiltrate, or outright form, the government? Effective digital rights activism under these conditions is crucial. Should such privacy invasive initiatives be implemented at the national scale, there are limits to what one can do as individuals to protect themselves. To this end, technology policy analysis, threat modelling, and political awareness of organized groups and adversaries are critical elements to build an informed populace which can understand and identify such threats and push back against them.