Related: Leaked document reveals that Sidewalk Labs’ Toronto plans for private taxation, private roads, charter schools, corporate cops and judges, and punishment for people who choose privacy

Sidewalk Labs’s plans to create a smart city in a disused area of Toronto can proceed but on a much smaller scale than it had wanted.

Any data the Google-affiliate collects there must be treated as a public asset.

Waterfront Toronto, the group charged with overseeing development of the area, voted unanimously for it to proceed, after imposing several conditions.

The project has proved controversial.

Sidewalk Labs had wanted to develop a 190-acre (0.7-sq-km) site but was given permission for just 12 acres. It had also wanted to create its own group to oversee the data collected by sensors around the city, which was also rejected.

The project will now move forward to a more formal evaluation and further public consultations. A final vote on whether to approve the project is set for March 2020.

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