Tag: video surveillance
7. March 2022
At the end of February 2022, The UK Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) published a guidance for organizations that capture CCTVs footage in order to provide advice for when they operate video surveillance systems that view or record individuals.
The recommendations aim to focus on best practices for data activities related to “emerging capabilities that can assist human decision making, such as the use of Facial Recognition Technology and machine learning algorithms.” As per the Guidance, surveillance systems specifically include traditional CCTV, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Body Worn Video, Drones, Facial Recognition Technology, dashcams and smart doorbell cameras.
In their Guidance, the ICO offers checklists with points that controllers can use in order to monitor their use of video surveillance and keep track of their compliance with the applicable law. It further touches on the principles of data protection and how they specifically apply to video surveillance. In addition, it helps companies with the documentation of a Data Processing Impact Assessment.
The Guidance gives in depth advice on video surveillance at the workplace as well as if video feeds should also record audio.
Overall, the Guidance aims to sensibilize controllers regarding the various issues faced with when using video surveillance, and gives them in depth help on what to do to be compliant with the data protection regulations in the UK.
13. January 2021
The State Commissioner for Data Protection of Niedersachsen (“LfD Niedersachsen) has imposed a fine of 10.4 mio. Euro on notebooksbilliger.de AG, a German online shop for notebooks.
According to the press release of the LfD Niedersachsen, dated 08.01.2021, notebooksbilliger.de had been video-monitoring its employees for at least two years, including workplaces, sales rooms, warehouses and common areas, without a legal basis. Customers were also affected by the video surveillance, as some cameras were directed at seats in the sales area of the stationary stores.
Notebooksbilliger.de claimed that the cameras were intended to prevent and solve crimes and offences as well as track the flow of goods in the warehouses. In the opinion of the LfD Niedersachsen, a company must consider milder measures to prevent thefts such as random bag checks of the employees when leaving the premises. Moreover, video surveillance is only considered lawful, if there is reasonable suspicion against specific persons and only for a limited period of time. This was not the case at notebooksbilliger as the authority investigated. Additionally, the recordings of the video surveillance were stored for 60 days in many cases, which was significantly longer than necessary.
In the meantime, notebooksbilliger.de had set up the video surveillance lawfully and had proven that to the LfD Niedersachsen.
The fine is not yet legally binding. The company has appealed the fine and published a statement in this regard on its homepage. Notebooksbilliger.de considers the amount of the fine to be disproportionate to the financial strength of the company and defends itself against the statement that it systematically monitored the performance and behavior of its employees. According to the statement, the video system was at no time designed to monitor the behavior of employees or their performance. Futhermore, despite several invitations by notebooksbilliger.de, no one of the authority had spoken to employees in the company’s warehouses or dispatch centers.
13. August 2019
Recently, the EDPB has adopted its Guidelines on processing of personal data through video devices (“the guidelines”). The guidelines provide assistance on how to apply the GDPR in cases of processing through video devices with several examples, which are not exhaustive but applicable for all areas of using video devices.
In a first step, the guidelines set the scope of application. The GDPR is only applicable for the use of video devices if
- personal data is collected through the video device ( e.g. a person is identifiable on basis of their looks or other specific elements)
- the processing is not carried out by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, or,
- the so-called “household exemption” does not apply (processing by a natural person in the course of personal or household activity).
Before processing personal data through video devices, controllers must specify their legal basis for it. According to the guidelines, every legal ground under Article 6 (1) can provide a legal basis. The purposes for using video devices for processing personal data should be documented in writing and specified for every camera in use.
Another subject of the guidelines is the transparency of the processing. The controllers have to inform data subjects about the video surveillance. The EDPB recommends a layered approach and combining several methods to ensure transparency. The most important information should be written on the warning sign itself (first layer) and the other mandatory details may be provided by other means (second layer). The second layer must also be easily accessible for data subjects.
The guidelines also deal with storage periods and technical and organizational measures (TOMs). In some member states may be specific provisions for storing video surveillance footage, but it is recommended to – ideally automatically – delete the personal data after a few days. As with any kind of data processing, the controller must adequately secure it and therefore must have implemented technical and organizational measures. Examples provided are masking or scrambling areas that are not relevant to surveillance, or the editing out of images of third persons, when providing video footage to data subjects.
Until September 9th 2019, the guidelines will be open for public consultation and a final and revised version is planned for the end of 2019.
2. October 2017
Moscow adds facial recognition to its network of 170.000 surveillance cameras across the city to be able to identify criminals and boost security, Bloomberg reports. The camera surveillance started in 2012. The recordings of the camera surveillance system have been held for five days after they are captured, with an amount of 20 million hours of video material stored at any one time. “We soon found it impossible to process such volumes of data by police officers alone,” Artem Ermolaev, who is Head of the Department of Information Technology in Moscow, said according to Bloomberg. “We needed an artificial intelligence to help find what we are looking for.”, he further said.
A Russian start-up, named N-Tech.Lab Ltd designed the facial recognition technology. The start-up is known for its mobile app FindFace which was released last year. With FindFace it is possible to search for users of the Russian social network VKontakte by making a picture of a person’s face and match it against the user profiles of VKontakte.
However, due to high costs the face recognition technology should not be deployed to every camera and therefore only be installed selectively within specific districts where it is needed the most. To maintain the camera surveillance, the Moscow government already should spend about $ 86 million a year and this amount would triple if every camera would use the new facial recognition technology.
The new technology is used to cross-reference images captured by the cameras with those from the Interior Ministry’s database.
