Building Passports
The new kid on the block in the data technology world is a building passport. These are digital ID systems designed to hold information about a building from its design through to its operation and occupation. They are being promoted as a way of managing the risks of building-related diseases, as well as reducing operational costs and energy use. But are they needed? And are there any privacy concerns?
The idea is that these systems will capture and manage data that can be used to understand how a building operates, what impact its operation has on the environment, and what it takes to run it efficiently. They are designed to bring together multiple stakeholders and processes in a single platform, and support compliance with regulations and decision making. This is because building data is often scattered across different sources and stored in pdfs, excel sheets, and other analogical formats.
A building passport can help to reduce this fragmentation, bringing everyone in the building supply chain into one place and allowing them to share the same standards of detail and data. However, they can only do this if the passport is able to communicate with other systems that have adopted the same standard. Otherwise, if a re-used beam is swapped between organisations with different building passport systems, for example, it will need to be translated before the information can be viewed. This can be expensive and time consuming.
Building Passports – Are They Needed? And Are There Any Privacy Concerns?
This is why building passports need to be open-source. In an era of big data, it is important to ensure that this kind of work does not remain the preserve of large technology companies. As such, the UN is promoting open-source building passport software in order to encourage the wider construction community to join in and develop these new technologies.
The benefits of a building passport go beyond its security and utility for FMs, and are also attractive to private developers. As a result, many private sector companies are designing vaccine verification systems for their customers to be used at schools, offices, and sports stadiums. These are potentially powerful tools that can be used to prevent people from travelling to areas where vaccine-preventable diseases exist, and to make sure their employees have the vaccinations they need to do their jobs effectively.
While these developments are promising, the social risks associated with immunity passports remain a concern. It is easy to imagine how a system like this could be exploited by government, employers, or even the police, and lead to discrimination and exclusion. This would be particularly harmful if the power to view these documents falls into the hands of individuals’ employers, or the police.
While the security of the passport’s RFID chip is impressive, there are ways to spoof it. Tinker says that a skilled hacker can read a passport’s RFID chip from a couple of feet away, depending on the length of the antenna and power supply. However, he admits that this is hard work and requires specific equipment that isn’t easily portable.
