A Game Theoretic Perspective on Information and Democracy
Democracy in the age of (Smart) cities is impacted by the ubiquity of AI, Big Data and IoT in ways that we still fail to grasp. Information Technology companies are allocating resources to meet this requirement, reflecting the interest of the private sector in embracing this business opportunity. To this end, data must be gathered from multiple channels, such as social media, mobile applications and, importantly, through infrastructures yet to be deployed. This scenario suggests that individuals from the different sectors of society face different tradeoffs that often result in social dilemmas: A critical mass
Sara Encarnação
Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Centro de Investigação de Políticas do Ensino Superior
Co Authors:
Francisco Correia dos Santos
Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon
Fernando P. Santos
Informatics Institute, Civic AI Lab, University of Amsterdam
Juval Portugali
Department of Geography and the Human Environment, Tel Aviv University
Jorge M. Pacheco
Mathematics and Applications Department of the University of Minho, Portugal, ATP-group and of the Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology
of citizens must be willing to provide personal information so that companies (and/or governments) deliver novel amenities, yet incurring risks associated with privacy violation and unintended profiling; Companies receive and treat information, deciding how much to invest in the quality of services offered and how to explore users’ data, possibly seeking a compromise between profit, customer confidence and information overload; Public authorities have the capacity to shape the legal framework where information transfers take place, and to decide how to use citizens’ data, how to engage with the private sector in synergistic projects (with potential information sharing) and how to respond to electoral pressure. Here we investigate the Smart Cities Dilemma(s) (SCD) employing an evolutionary game theoretical model that explicitly takes into account the interplay between the Public, Private and Civil sectors. We will consider how an engaged Civil sector, affecting Public representatives through electoral pressure and typical democracy instruments, is instrumental to prevent that smartification leads to (1) cities where data is carelessly provided and guarantee that (2) individuals are aware and collect the full benefits of the data they provide.