Data protection, e-ticketing, and intelligent systems for public transport

Smart mobility systems make it possible to collect a huge amount of information about passenger’s movements that can reveal users’ behaviour and social relations. In the light of the above, these systems should adopt adequate privacy-oriented solutions in order to avoid the risk of transforming mobility architecture into generalized territorial surveillance systems. Adopting a case study approach, the article analyses the role played by data management, data anonymization, and pseudonymization in reducing the potential negative impact of e-ticketing technologies on individual and social privacy. In a context characterized by public subsidies provided by regional governments to transport companies, the author shows how privacy-oriented strategies adopted by regional governments are an important factor to induce mobility policies that focus on service quality and citizen privacy protection. Finally, the case study shows the importance of the adoption of a multi-stakeholder approach to define privacy-oriented mobility systems in line with the idea of a participatory and inclusive smart community