Surveillance Statutes

Facial Recognition, Cameras, Other Tools Police Use Raise Questions About Accountability

Facial recognition, body cameras and other digital technologies are increasingly used by police departments, municipalities and even gated communities, but these tools manufactured by private companies raise the specter of unchecked surveillance, a University of California, Davis, researcher, suggests. Most of the forms of automation technology in policing are developed by private companies, raising concerns that the companies are becoming defacto policymakers

Japanese Tech Adopts Panasonic’s Revolutionary IT/IP-based Video Production Platform

CyberAgent has invested in KAIROS, Panasonic’s revolutionary IT/IP-based video production platform, for use in each of the eight studios at its production base Chateau Ameba, making it the largest installation*1 of KAIROS to date. Chateau Ameba is a production hub operated by CyberAgent for the video streaming service “ABEMA”. It delivers a wide array of programs to 20 channels, and covering a multitude of genres 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

SCC To Present An Update On The National Surveillance Camera Strategy At Global MSC Security Conference And Exhibition

Global MSC Security has revealed that the Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC) for England and Wales, Tony Porter MSyl, will present ‘Delivering the National Surveillance Camera Strategy’, at the 20th annual Global MSC Security Conference and Exhibition 2018, which is taking place at the Bristol Hotel in Bristol city centre on Tuesday 13th November 2018. Mr Porter will use his keynote address to highlight the successes and challenges since implementing the strategy.

Genetec Helps North American Security Directors Get Ready For GDPR At ISC West

Genetec is urging North American security directors to get ready for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While the initiative is led by the European Union, the territorial scope of the GDPR is global. As of May 25, 2018, any business that is collecting or storing personally identifiable information (PII) of EU citizens (including surveillance video, cardholder information and activities tracked by an access control system, and license plate numbers captured by an automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system) will be held accountable, regardless of where the organization is based.

LEGAL: Use Of Cameras Installed In The Workplace For Monitoring Employees

Israel has set a baseline for ‘secret’ video surveillance in the workspace and has codified it. The unlawful use of surveillance cameras to monitor employees in the workplace exposes the employer to civilian (including employment related and tortious), administrative and criminal action. An employer must establish a specific and detailed policy with respect to the use of surveillance cameras and it must notify its employees of this policy. Such a policy is necessary for establishing that the employer has obtained the employees’ informed consent.

Barrie Ont City Staff Looking At Potential Bylaw To Regulate Surveillance Systems And Drones

The city of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, will take a closer look at regulating technology that’s eyeballing Barrie. Council has asked staff to investigate a potential bylaw to regulate home security video surveillance systems, domestic closed-circuit television surveillance, and drones with cameras. Other city councillors have the same issues but are also concerned about regulation.

Detroit May Force Businesses To Share Surveillance

Detroit police and city officials are drafting an ordinance that would make it mandatory for all venues that serve customers after 10 p.m. to join Project Green Light, a program that allows officers to monitor businesses’ high-definition video feeds in real time. All businesses open that late —from party stores and gas stations to sports stadiums like Comerica Park and venues like the Fox Theatre— would be subject to the ordinance if it’s passed, police said. Police report double-digit reductions in violent crime at businesses that have enrolled in Project Green Light.

Use Of Video Recordings As Evidence Within The European Union

For a number of years now, public life has seen an exponential increase of the use of video recording equipment. The question remains under which conditions video equipment can be installed and to which extent video recordings can be allowed as evidence within the European Union (EU) legal system. Not only in the public space, but also on the work floor are cameras deployed regularly. In addition, it is almost a certainty that most events are recorded by dashcams, drones, or smartphones. The opinions diverge on whether or not this is a positive evolution. What has become clear is that video recordings can be used as evidence in legal procedures.

PA Senate OKs Bill For More Police Body Cameras

Legislation approved by the Pennsylvania state Senate on Wednesday seeks to clear legal hurdles for police departments to expand their officers’ use of body cameras, and it gives departments the discretion to refuse public requests for copies of audio or video recordings by officers. The bill, which passed 47-1 after brief comments on the Senate floor, would add Pennsylvania to a growing list of states that are setting statewide policy over the collection of audio and video by officers, including from dashboard and body cameras.

Geolocation Privacy And Surveillance Act Introduced In US Congress

On February 15, the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (GPS Act) was introduced by a bipartisan group of US Congress members. Designed to enact comprehensive rules for both government agencies and commercial service providers, the GPS Act would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using GPS data to track an individual’s location and would require service providers to obtain customer consent before sharing geolocation data with outside entities.

L.A. Police Commission Unveils Process That Could Lead To Public Release Of LAPD Video

In the months since the Los Angeles Police Department began rolling out thousands of body cameras to officers, during a time when video has prompted new scrutiny of policing across the country, a key question persists. When should the footage become public? On Tuesday, the civilian board that oversees the LAPD began a process to review the department’s current policy of generally withholding that video —whether it was captured by body cameras, patrol car cameras or otherwise collected during an investigation— unless ordered to release it in court. Some police commissioners, along with Chief Charlie Beck, have indicated in recent months that they were open to revisiting the policy, but Tuesday marked a more formal step toward that.

Germany Approves Regulation To Allow Expansion Of Video Surveillance Network

Germany’s strict privacy laws prevent the widespread usage of surveillance cameras, but the coalition government on Wednesday approved regulation that could change things. Germany would allow more video surveillance in public places, under a draft law passed by the cabinet on Wednesday, reflecting growing security fears in a country that has for decades been wary of police intrusion. The bill was agreed in principle by the parties in Angela Merkel’s coalition last month, well before Monday’s deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that was claimed by Islamic State.

Drone Defense: Not So Fast Says FAA

Unmanned Aircraft are definitely a transformative technology. They open up the lowest parts of the airspace to productive use. At the same time, they also create new problems for privacy and security. As a result, interest in “drone defense” technology has been skyrocketing. It seems that there is a new innovative defensive system unveiled by entrepreneurs on a weekly basis. A new letter form the Office of Airports Safety and Standards, however, indicates that the FAA would like to slow down and coordinate this new technological stampede.

FAA Deputy Administrator Says Privacy, Preemption Are Two Biggest UAS Issues

Marke “Hoot” Gibson, the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said two of the biggest issues facing the FAA related to unmanned aviation systems, or drones, are privacy and preemption. Gibson said the FAA is not in the business of dealing with privacy, but there is a long history of case law dealing with traditional aviation. “However, it has generally dealt with noise and airports —this is personal use— it comes right in your back yard,” he said, referring to unmanned aircraft.

Security Camera Registration Program Launched in Beaverton (Ore.)

Police in Beaverton (Ore.) have launched a security camera registration initiative here in an effort to fight crime, including acts of terrorism. “Surveillance video is huge,” Beaverton Police Officer Jeremy Shaw told KATU News about the potential for surveillance video to help solve crimes and find suspects. “I mean it puts those people at that […]

How A Prison Drug Smuggling Case In Kansas Led To A Showdown Over Recordings Of Inmate-Attorney Talks

When attorneys said in court recently that phone calls between lawyers and inmates at Leavenworth Detention Center had been recorded and obtained by federal prosecutors, the development was just the latest revelation in what a United States public defender says was a systemic violation of constitutional rights.

‘Predictive Policing’ Isn’t In Science Fiction, It’s In Sacramento

Sacramento —like New York, Houston, Miami, St. Louis, and other cities before it— is looking at the next step: the launch in October of a “real-time crime center,” a central location from which officers could monitor all their existing surveillance technologies, PODs included. The idea is that consolidating information about criminal activity —from stalking complaints to potential lone wolf terrorist attacks— would make law enforcement more effective at investigating and perhaps preventing some incidents. The process would also promote accountability and transparency at a time of rising tension between police and the black community, providing evidence of both police and suspect behavior during tense encounters, proponents say.

Bavarian Data Protection Authority Issues Paper On Video Surveillance Under General Data Protection Regulation

On 6 July of this year, the Bavarian Data Protection Authority issued a brief guidance paper on video surveillance under the new European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). This short paper is the first issue within a series of non-binding guidance papers on selected topics in relation to the GDPR, which the Bavarian Data Protection Authority has planned to publish periodically. This is a significant step forward for EU countries to adopt a more uniformed approach to video surveillance retention policies.

World IP Video Surveillance And VSaaS Market Worth US$61.3 Billion By 2022

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “World IP Video Surveillance & VSaaS Market: Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015 – 2022” report to their offering. According to a new report titled “World IP Video Surveillance and VSaaS Market”, the global IP video surveillance and VSaaS market is expected to reach $61.3 billion by 2022. […]

How Police Body Cameras Change Our Perception Of Right And Wrong

There was something about the sudden, near-universal praise for police body cameras that rubbed Seth Stoughton the wrong way. A law professor at the University of South Carolina who has spent his career studying the regulation of law enforcement, Stoughton saw the potential of equipping thousands upon thousands of American police officers with cameras recording […]