Disinformation about deadly wildfires in the United States and Canada has run rampant across social media, with posts falsely blaming coordinated arson, lasers—and plans to develop 'smart cities.'
An aerial image shows destroyed homes and businesses along Front Street in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii on August 10, 2023.
"So what are the odds that we have two fires in two places within a week's time, and both of these places have initiatives to become smart-intelligent cities?" says a woman in a TikTok video, pointing to Lahaina, Hawaii and West Kelowna, British Columbia—both of which were ravaged by wildfires in August.
"I cannot conceive why a government would intentionally burn down a city to increase its use of smart city technologies," said Harvey Miller, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at The Ohio State University.The conspiracy theories come amid widespread distrust in digitizing urban areas. A 2022 Axios-Momentive poll found only half of Americans are comfortable with the prospect of living in a smart city.
In Canada, plans for smart cities are often linked to supposed climate lockdowns or the elimination of cash.David Mitchell, the mayor of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, told AFP in May that a disinformation campaign targeted his city's participation in Canada's Smart Cities Challenge. "That's where this is going from being simply an annoyance of people spreading lies, to really concerning for me and other communities across the country because people are legitimately scared," he said.are damaging, Ohio State's Miller said that privacy in modern cities is a concern.
Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, said cities must ensure their plans are"privacy, security and rights-inclusive."
Indonesia Berita Terbaru, Indonesia Berita utama
Similar News:Anda juga dapat membaca berita serupa dengan ini yang kami kumpulkan dari sumber berita lain.
United States Nonfarm Productivity QoQGet the Nonfarm Productivity (QoQ) results in real time as they're announced and see the immediate global market impact.
Baca lebih lajut »
United States Unit Labor Costs QoQGet the Unit Labor Costs (QoQ) results in real time as they're announced and see the immediate global market impact.
Baca lebih lajut »
Mini could produce EVs in the United States | Car NewsMini is reportedly working on plans to build EVs in the U.S., in part to sidestep tariffs imposed on made-in-China vehicles. Auto123 has more.
Baca lebih lajut »
'Monstrous births' and the making of race in the nineteenth-century United StatesFrom the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, 'monstrous births'—malformed or anomalous fetuses—were, to Western medicine, an object of superstition. In 19th-century America, they became instead an object of the 'modern scientific study of monstrosity,' a field formalized by French scientist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.
Baca lebih lajut »
| Was Trump ‘an Officer of the United States’?A careful look at the 14th Amendment’s Insurrection Clause shows that it doesn’t apply to him.
Baca lebih lajut »
United States ousted by Germany in World Cup shockerThe United States, the heavyweights of international basketball, has been knocked out of the FIBA World Cup. Call this the Illa in Manila. Team USA was stunned by Germany, 113-111, in the semifinal…
Baca lebih lajut »