Professor Carlo Ratti wants to bring smart city technology to the supermarket, the Guardian reports. Ratti’s Future Food District will alert customers on product information throughout a store using sensors, photographs, and through an app categorizing people based on their purchasing habits. Ratti does not believe privacy concerns surrounding smart cities apply to his supermarket idea. “We’re about giving information about products to people, but not vice versa in terms of providing information about the people to the supermarket,” Ratti says. Ratti does acknowledge the ethical concerns surrounding smart cities, but insists they aren’t limited to the technology. “We are leaving a lot of digital traces as we go, even when just using smartphones to go on to Facebook or Twitter, and it all poses questions about who is accessing the data and so on,” said Ratti.
Full Story