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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

  Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

  Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

  Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
  
  The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives and commercial endeavors alike, but it also introduces a host of privacy perils. How can the benefits of this availability of personal data be realized while mitigating the pitfalls? Concern over firms’ use and misuse of consumers’ data has been increasing, fueling a debate surrounding the regulation of online privacy. In this case, students debate this question, and devise a framework of different approaches to resolving these issues.
  The case provides a ripe area of inquiry for privacy issues: so-called “platform” companies, and especially platforms that run adjacent to, or even in public space. Cities are among the most ancient type of “platform,” providing a foundation for users of all types (individuals, organizations, companies) to interact, exchange, and innovate. Where platforms rely on users to generate and share data, privacy issues abound; Sidewalk Toronto is no exception.

  Keywords: privacy; privacy by design; Privacy Regulation; platforms; data; data security; behavioral science; Data and Data Sets; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior;

  Citation:

  John, Leslie, and Mitch Weiss. "Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-023, August 2019. (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018 (Revised July 2019)

  Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

  Leslie K. John, Mitchell Weiss and Julia Kelley

  Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
  
  By the time Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, began hosting a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session in January 2018, he had only nine months remaining to convince the people of Toronto, their government representatives, and presumably his parent company Alphabet, Inc., that Sidewalk Labs’ plan to construct “the first truly 21st-century city” on the Canadian city’s waterfront was a sound one. Along with much excitement and optimism, strains of concern had emerged since Doctoroff and partners first announced their intentions for a city “built from the internet up” in Toronto’s Quayside district. As Doctoroff prepared for yet another milestone in a year of planning and community engagement, it was almost certain that of the many questions headed his way, digital privacy would be among them.

  Keywords: public entrepreneurship; govtech; CivicTech; smart cities; city innovation; government innovation; privacy; Sidewalk Labs; Dan Doctoroff; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Consumer Behavior; Governance; Business and Government Relations; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; Transportation Industry; Real Estate Industry; Canada;

  Citation:

  John, Leslie K., Mitchell Weiss, and Julia Kelley. "Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up." Harvard Business School Case 819-024, October 2018. (Revised July 2019.) (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.)  View Details

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• Course Overview Note | July 2017 (Revised July 2019)

  Public Entrepreneurship

  Mitchell Weiss

  This course is rooted in the belief that there is a large opportunity for creating value and solving large public problems if there are more inventors and builders inside government and more inventors and builders outside government, building for it. The course was created to advance that opportunity. It is designed for students who anticipate founding or joining private startup companies that sell to (or around) government to solve public problems; for students who plan to be extreme innovators inside government; and for students who may lead in different parts of the connected ecosystem, as investors, advisors, etc.

  Keywords: public entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations;

  Citation:

  Weiss, Mitchell. "Public Entrepreneurship." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 818-006, July 2017. (Revised July 2019.)  View Details

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