The Legal Aspects of Smart Cities in Asia
A half-day online conference
27 January 2021 from 5-9:30pm PT
Welcome Address
Victor V. Ramraj
Director, UVic's Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) and Professor, UVic Faculty of Law
Panel Chair
Daniela Damian
Professor, Faculty of Engineering, 番茄社区
Presenters:
The Emerging Legal Framework for Smart Cities in Vietnam
Nguyen Van Cuong
General Director, Institute of Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice, Vietnam
Talk description
The idea of “smart city” is widely known in Vietnam today. On August 1, 2018, the Prime Minister issued a Decision to approve a national plan for sustainable development of smart cities during 2018-2025, with a vision toward 2030. This Decision sets a target to turn the first four biggest cities in Vietnam (i.e. Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang and Can Tho) into cities with core smart functions by 2025 or 2030. However, most of the smart city projects in reality remain in a pilot stage. There are several legal issues to be addressed to help those projects run smoothly. This paper will trace the evolution of the legal framework for smart city in Vietnam in recent years. It argues that the legal framework for smart cities projects in Vietnam is still in an early stage of development with several rooms for improvements in the coming time, especially legal rules for ICT application (especially, digital signatures, e-contract, e-transactions), urban governance of infrastructure, construction and engineering laws, coordination of components of city lives, environmental law, intellectual property rights, and protection of personal data (data rights law and privacy law).
Biography
Cuong Nguyen is currently the General Director of Institute of Legal Studies under the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam. He graduated from Hanoi Law University (Vietnam) in 1998, then completed a Master of Law program in Niigata University (Japan) in 2004. He earned his PhD in Law in 番茄社区 (Canada) in 2011. He has been working for Ministry of Justice of Vietnam for 21 years. He writes extensively on Vietnamese constitutional laws, consumer protection laws, and civil laws as well as public policy and lawmaking process. He is widely known in Vietnam as the author or co-author of more than 50 articles, 10 books on law and public policies.
A Study on Korean Legal System for Sustainable Smart City
Choi Jong-Kwon
Senior Researcher, Law Research Institute, Seoul National University, South Korea
Talk description
Currently, many cities around the world are evolving into smart cities. Korea is also making socio-economic and legal efforts for a sustainable smart city. As a Korean legal scholar, I introduce Korean laws and institutions for smart cities. The content of the presentation is largely composed of four parts. First, a system for making urban physical spaces into Smart Cities. In Korea, cities are divided into three stages, and smart cities are being created for each stage; new urban areas, existing urban areas and declining urban areas. Second, a method for providing 'smart services', which is the core of smart cities. Smart services often conflict with existing laws. So, in Korea, we are looking for a way to solve that problem. Third, how to make the basic infrastructure for a sustainable smart city. Nurturing human resources, revitalization of public-private partnership governance, investment (R&D) by the state for innovative growth for smart cities, etc. Fourth, smart city is a global phenomenon. International cooperation and research exchange are important. Let's look at Korea's efforts and role.
Biography
Choi Jong-Kwon is a Senior Researcher at the Law Research Institute at Seoul National University in South Korea. He is researching mainly laws and institutions related to urban planning, infrastructure, housing and real estate, and redevelopment etc. As a senior researcher at the Law Institute, he has performed a number of services related to the legal system of the government and public institutions, provided support and advice for legislation and amendments, suggested solutions for legal issues, and given advice on the introduction of new systems etc. Recently, he submitted a paper on Smart City and is participating in a Smart City pilot project in Vietnam.
Developing Smart City Infrastructure Inside a Historical City – A Case from Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam
Ngoc Nguyen Thi Bich
Lecturer, Academy of Policy and Development, Ministry of Planning and
Talk description
The Intelligent Operations Center in Thua Thien Hue province is a remarkable example of an effective smart city application in Vietnam. Intelligent Operations Center helps the government supervise and control citizens’ social activities and predict social trends. Besides, it encourages the participation of citizens in managing the city. Planning and Deploying smart city project in Thua Thien Hue is at a high level of complexity. Thua Thien Hue is the cultural and historical center of Vietnam, which has five world heritage sites. The province is committed to sustainable tourism development. However, these sites are in poor state of preservation due to the lack of cultural heritages supervision. Besides, the extended central city of Thua Thien Hue is large and comprises of both urban and rural areas. While some areas already have the necessary infrastructure to develop Intelligent Operations Center utilities, access is still limited in the others. This article aims to present the case study of how the authority and company developed smart cities project in Thua Thien Hue, in order to preserve the cultural and historical sites of the city and enhance the experience of every citizens and tourists.
Biography
Ngoc Nguyen Thi Bich is a Marketing & Management lecturer at Academy of Policy and Development. Her research interest focuses on Marketing and Digital Transformation. Ngoc obtained her master’s degree in marketing from University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom in 2018. Ngoc worked as a Marketing officer in Viettel Business Solutions. Her job was developing marketing strategy for digital transformation products. Five of these earned global awards regarding digital transformation. Her entries for Intelligent Operations Center of Thua Thien Hue was recognized as the "Most innovative Smart Cities Project" in Telecom Asia Awards 2019. Her research about Developing distribution channels for Internet Banking in Commercial Banks in Vietnam has just been published by Academy of Finance.
Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Banking System
Son Minh Ha and Linh Thuy Nguyen
Academy of Finance, Ministry of Finance, Vietnam
Talk description
According to the application of technology in all aspects of life, the growing number of “new entrants” to the bank relating services and the collaboration between banks and fintech, bigtech, etc., it is inevitable for any commercial banks to adopt some level of digital transformation to satisfy the increasingly high demand of customers. This article aims to examine the literature on digital transformation in the banking sector and the current digital transformation situation of commercial banks in Vietnam with some examples of digital transformation of VietNam Joint stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) and Tienphong commercial Joint Stock Bank (Tpbank). This article also aims to present the opportunities and challenges of going digital of Vietnam commercial banks sector along with some recommendations to promote the digital transformation of commercial banks. Afterward, the paper concludes that digital transformation is the key for banking industry to meet consumer demands and keep pace with innovation and suggests further research directions.
Biographies
Son Minh Ha
Associate Professor, Dr. Son Minh Ha is an economic researcher at the Academy of Finance, Vietnam. His research focuses on banking governance, accounting and auditing in banks. He received a PhD in economics from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam in 2003 and became an Associate Professor in 2010. His PhD thesis titled: "Solutions for the growth and stabilization of bank credit capital toward the industrialization and modernization of Vietnam”. Son has published and co-authored 7 books and a number of articles. His article “The solutions to complete the banking supervision and inspection system” was published at International conference 2008 “Academy of Finance and Guangxi Financial Economics Institute”. Another article “Impact of international integration on commercial banking system” was published at “International conference 2018 – Proceedings of the sustainable economic development and business management in the context of globalization - Academy of Finance and University of Greenwich”.
Linh Thuy Nguyen
Dr. Linh Thuy Nguyen is an economic researcher at the Academy of Finance, Vietnam. Her research interests focus on the field of banking and finance. Linh got her PhD from Academy of Finance in 2020. Her PhD thesis titled: “Improving the credit risk management capacity of Vietnam Technology and Commercial Joint Stock Bank.” Linh has published a number of articles and co-authored some books in Vietnamese. Her article- “Handling bad debt of commercial banking system for fostering sustainable development national finance” - was published in the International conference: “Restructuring national finance towards rapid, inclusive and sustainable development” – USAID and the Ministry of financed in 2018. Another article––Retail banking development - a strategic business segment of Vietinbank––was published in The Banking Review in 2016.
Legal Aspects of Environmental Protection in Smart Cities
Hoang Ly Anh
Acting Head of Department for Research Management and Journal Administration, Hanoi Law University
Biography
Dr. Hoang Ly Anh is a Doctor of Juridical Science and currently covers the role of Acting Head of Department for Research Management and Journal Administration at Hanoi Law University. She has been elected as a member of the Board of Advisers of the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) in 2020. She has extensive professional experience in working with international organisations such as UNDP and UNEP, with Ministries and government agencies including the Viet Nam Environment Agency, Biodiversity Conservation Agency, and non-governmental institutions such as the Netherlands Development Agency. Since 1994, she has been an International Law Lecturer (at both post-graduate and under-graduate levels in Vietnamese and English) teaching, conducting research and writing on international law topics, including general public international law, focusing on law of the seas, international organisations, human rights law and especially international, Vietnamese, and comparative environmental laws.
Panel Chair
Thanh Phan
Faculty of Engineering, 番茄社区
Biography
Thanh Phan is an instructor in Engineering Law at the Faculty of Engineering, 番茄社区, Canada (UVic). His postdoctoral research is co-funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholar. Thanh Phan worked for the Vietnam Competition Agency (VCA) for ten years as an expert in competition law enforcement, after two years at the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam. Thanh also served as a member of the Vietnamese delegation negotiating Vietnam-EU and Vietnam-Customs Union free trade agreements. He has published journal articles in Canadian Journal of Law and Technology, Houston Journal of International Law, Louisiana Law Review, American Bar Association’s International Antitrust Bulletin, among others. Thanh was educated at Hanoi Law University, Nagoya University, and the 番茄社区.
Presenters:
Smart Cities and Surveillance Technologies: Ethical Challenges for Software Professionals
Tony Clear
Associate Professor and Co-Director, Software Engineering Research Lab, Auckland University of Technology
Talk description
The promise of smart cities is that citizens will benefit from efficiencies through seamlessly delivered services, and new technology-enabled ways of more conveniently conducting their social and business lives. The infrastructure for this will be provided by a continuous flood of data from ubiquitous and linked sensors, stored, analysed and interpreted, in order to provide these enhanced services. But the downside of this surveillance technology, capturing the intimate details of our day-to-day lives is that privacy becomes lost! We see examples in authoritarian regimes taking advantage of data for control of citizen behaviour, and in big tech firms taking advantage of data for advertising and control of consumer behaviour, in what has been termed “surveillance capitalism”.
Legal responses developing to concerns over abuse of facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology, demonstrate the importance of citizens trusting the uses to which their data may be given. In turn this demands that software professionals and their managers are sensitised to issues of privacy and trust, and ethical uses of data and technology. On their part computing professional societies are promoting codes of ethics, and the role of ethics as a design concern. So how can technology designs accommodate privacy preserving approaches?
Biography
Tony Clear is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Software Engineering Research Lab at Auckland University of Technology. He is an Associate Editor for ACM Transactions on Computing Education, for Computer Science Education, and ACM Inroads for which he is also a regular columnist and Editorial Board member. He is active in research within the computer science education and software engineering communities. With Professor Daniela Damian of 番茄社区, Canada he is working on a joint project through a Royal Society of NZ International Leaders Fellowship Grant titled - "Leading the Way in Software Ecosystems for NZ". This work during Daniela’s sabbatical in New Zealand in the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a co-operation on a chapter titled "Can Technology and Privacy Co-Exist in a Pandemic?" in the book edited by Victor Ramraj, Covid-19 in Asia: Law and Policy Contexts.
The Visibility of Residents and Government in Smart Cities and the Issues of Privacy and Data Protection – An Analysis from Vietnam’s Perspective
Hong Tran
Legal Researcher, Institute of Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice, Vietnam
Talk description
How can smart cities become truly smart? While there are a number of constituents in this smartness, being data-driven is undoubtedly one of essential factors (Sta, 2016). The increasing visibility of residents and government is both a pre-requisite condition and a consequence of smart city development. To be smart, a city must be run on a set of massively and concertedly collected and processed data, which is to be done on a regular basis. This provides the models to support better decision making and action taking, whose effectiveness would largely depend on the increasingly connected, automated and real-time data collection and analysis. While this is enabled thanks to technological advancement, the question is how the law should balance the requirements for collecting and sharing data with those of state secrecy and people’s privacy. The case study of Vietnam shows that the state’s main concerns and interests strongly influence their approach to this issue, suggesting that balancing points would differ from country to country. This research calls for universal principles on balancing the use and protection of data across countries to facilitate cross-border transactions and communication as well as world connectedness in the era of rapid technological change.
Biography
Hong Tran is a legal researcher at the Institute of Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice of Vietnam. Her research interests focus on the process of legal reforms and judicial reforms in Vietnam. Hong got her PhD from Monash University in 2017. Her PhD thesis titled "The Trajectory of Merger Regulation in Transforming Vietnam" applies the varieties of capitalism theories to explore how different political economies shape different model of competition and merger regulation. Hong has published a number of articles and co-authored some books in Vietnamese. Her article "The Choice of Norms in Courtroom Adjudication in Vietnam: In Search of Legitimacy in a Socialist Regulatory Context" was published in the Asian Journal of Law and Society in Jan 2019. Another article, "Legal Pluralism and the Struggle for Customary Law in the Vietnamese Highlands" is coming soon in the American Journal of Comparative Law.
Smart City Thailand: The Promises and Challenges of Privacy Protection
Visakha Phusamruat
Lecturer, Graduate School of Law, National Institute of Development Administration, Thailand
Talk description
The presentation will outline the smart city concept within the Thai context, its recent development and challenges on protecting rights to personal data under the new Thai Personal Data Protection Act. Like other smart cities around the world, the growing public-private partnerships between global enterprises and local public bodies regarding the city’s technology infrastructure have raised concerns on how data from residents will be collected, used and shared between them and with third parties. With massive lifestyle aggregated data being collected from sensors, CCTVs installed around the cities and personal devices, residents are prone to be scrutinized, classified and labeled based on personal behaviors, relationships and interests. The questions of fairness and transparency arise as data collected can be used against themselves in courts, justify for differential pricing or increased insurance premiums. Lacking effective regulation means weakening individuals’ decision-making power and their meaningful participation in the social and political arena in the long run. The growing issues on public-private partnerships, information asymmetry and mistrust on the insights from data analytics cast doubt on whether the PDPA remains an effective legal tool to protect rights to personal data.
Biography
Visakha Phusamruat received the J.S.D. degree from Berkeley Law, USA, in 2018. Her dissertation studies data privacy protection in the U.S. and Singapore from organization-consumer trust relationship lens and provides implications for Thai personal data protection laws. She earned a Bachelor of Law and a Master of Laws degree from Chulalongkorn University. Her research and personal interests are on communication, social relationships, privacy, identity, formal and informal laws governing those aspects.
Data Privacy: The Challenges for a Small Organization
Ze Shi Li
PhD student, Computer Science, 番茄社区
Talk description
To achieve smart city initiatives, governments may often rely on companies to provide services and data. The abundance of real-time data sourced from people everywhere is crucial to the operation of many present day and future services. For instance, improvements and executing package delivery, mobile and internet, and ride-hailing services require significant data. In a recent work, we conducted a 16-month investigation in a small start-up organization’s adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR is a comprehensive and stringent set of regulations that came into full force in the European Union in 2018 and affects any organization that collects and/or processes data from the European Union. In our investigation, we found that there are significant challenges for a small organization to comply with such privacy regulations. While a small organization may act in earnest to comply with regulations, it faces pragmatic business trade-offs that it must balance. While the enactment of new privacy regulations to more effectively govern the collection of data is inevitable, we must conduct more research for understanding how to better support organizations to prepare for when these regulations come to fruition.
Biography
Ze Shi Li is currently a PhD student at the 番茄社区. His research interests involve a broad spectrum of areas including requirements engineering, continuous software engineering, privacy, and software ecosystems. In particular, Ze Shi Li’s research has focused on studying practical software problems in organizations and solving these problems through collaborative research. His recent work has closely studied a small start-up organization’s adoption of the GDPR. Moreover, he has extensive experience conducting empirical research studies with software organizations.