Nothing wrong with "testing" imho. But like in any grand real-world experiment -- except tech, which has split from science in terms of ethics norms, perhaps in

Nothing wrong with "testing" imho. But like in any grand real-world experiment -- except tech, which has split from science in terms of ethics norms, perhaps in its own meta-experiment of sorts -- in experiments, the public should have ability to consent or withhold consent to be tested on. The Sidewalk Toronto public consultations did not have a way to say "no" and withhold consent. The consultation was of the format of "getting to yes", which is all-too-common but the low bar for public consultations. It's the sort that property developers run hand-in-hand with cities who really want to just build something. Initiatives running meaningful and fair public consultations don't do that. tl;dr - The fact that there was no lever to decline to participate was a major criticism of the whole effort.