KOMN commuter data could be misused, say critics

It may begin as traffic project and end up in e-commerce, says digital rights activist

Even as proponents of the Kochi Open Mobility Network (KOMN), which was launched here on Friday evening under the aegis of the Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA), say that the network’s data protection has been assured and that its specifications and ownership will be handed over to the KMTA after six months, critics say grey areas abound and that it needed comprehensive political vetting. After identity, finance, health, education and agriculture, it could be an attempt to garner data on transport and commerce. The transport-related data could ultimately end up being used for “digital colonisation”, more so since a commuter’s identity and travelling pattern will be known, says Anivar Aravind, a public interest technologist and digital rights’ activist based in Bengaluru. “I wonder on what basis the government and the KMTA roped in stakeholders that have a history of technological and civil rights violations. The “surveillance app” will help garner information on traffic-data, which could be shared with start-ups that are in their ecosystem. No proper stakeholder consultations were done prior to finalising the initiative that will begin as a traffic project and could end up in e-commerce,” says he.