Most of the UK public have concerns about the technology used to create connected places, according to a report from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
It has published the results of a survey it commissioned from economics and policy consultancy London Economics, which involved 3,300 people and also covers attitudes towards the consumer internet of things (IoT) and apps and app stores.
Its findings include that there is low awareness of the concept of connected places/smart cities, with 77% being unfamiliar and 72% not having seen examples of the technology, such as smart lamp posts.
A majority of respondents (62%) reported being somewhat or a little concerned about the relevant technology, with evidence that this is more likely when they are more familiar.
Only 15% said they would trust technology managed by central government and 14% by local government.
When asked to state the extent of trust in technology by different levels of data required, respondents were less trusting when it gathers data from personal devices (41% trust a little and 36% not at all), than when it takes data only from public sources (47% and 16% respectively).
Security concerns
The proportion of survey respondents who reported being ‘somewhat concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about security of connected places was similar for respondents who had not seen any examples of smart cities (55%), those who had seen a handful of examples (53%), and those who had seen many examples (57%).
Across these groups, few respondents reported that they were ‘not at all concerned’ about the security of connected places (ranging from 4% for those who had not seen any examples to 6% for those who had seen many examples).
The findings contrast with attitudes towards the security of personal IoT devices, with 87% responding that they trust their security.
DSIT said the insights from the report will support its work and inform the development of policy under the National Cyber Security strategy.
The report is dated from February but has been published by the department this week.
