The UK public have shared their concerns about the connected technology used throughout smart cities and smart homes in a new report from the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology.

In a recent survey commissioned by London Economics, over three quarters of UK respondents did not know what term ‘connected places’ meant. In general terms, connected places refer to communities which use connected devices and internet of things in conjunction across their jurisdiction which gather data that is analysed to improve efficiency and inform decision making.

This lack of understanding may drive the apparent mistrust in such places that are connected by technology, with 62% somewhat concerned about connected places technology.

Respondents were, however, more likely to trust technology managed by the government (15%) or local authorities (14%) than technology managed by private companies.

People do seem to have a general understanding of the difference between personal and public data, with only 12% trusting technology that uses personal devices, compared to 25% for technology that uses only public information.

The varying levels of trust remain consistent regardless of the purpose of the technology, the survey found, which could range from traffic management to environmental monitoring, though the later garnered the most trust from consumers.

In terms of consumer IT, concerns were drastically different, with a general lack of understanding on data protection and an overwhelming (87%) level of trust in IoT devices.

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This is contrasted with more heightened security concerns around connected places, where consumers were generally concerned to at least some extent, with a higher level of overall mistrust.

The concern may be again from a lack of understanding or knowledge of what a smart city or connected place was, with a similar level of those expressing mistrust saying that they had not seen any examples of a smart city, or only a handful of examples.

Information from the report will support DSIT’s work in developing its policy under the National Cyber Security strategy.