3,000 Surveillance Cameras in New York
Microsoft and the NYPD have jointly developed and implemented a new electronic surveillance system to combat crime.
This system links 3,000 surveillance cameras in Lower Manhattan to police databases, street maps, crime records, and the 911 emergency hotline, among other sources, and is designed to enable real-time crime tracking and to deter offenders proactively.
For example, suspicious license plates are identified and tracked. According to press reports, vehicles’ routes are to be tracked over a period of weeks and months. Sensors for radioactive materials can trigger alarms and are intended to aid in the fight against terrorism. Microsoft contributed its electronic expertise to the project, while the NYPD contributed its experience in fighting crime.
Washington and Singapore Adopt Surveillance System
The “Domain Awareness ”System" was developed as part of a public-private partnership and was partially funded with counterterrorism funds. It is intended to help New York City further reduce its already low crime rate, which is a result of the "zero-tolerance" strategy. After all, the New York region is home to nearly 19 million residents, and New York City, with a population of 8.2 million, is one of the largest cities in the world.
Developments have shown that New York, with its domain Awareness This system was not an isolated case. The system, developed jointly by Microsoft and the NYPD, was later adopted by, among others, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., as well as by security agencies in Singapore. The Brazilian Federal Police also used similar technologies to link and analyze security-related data.
In addition, numerous major cities around the world have developed similar concepts in which Video Surveillance, license plate recognition, emergency call systems, and police information databases are linked together. Such systems are now considered an important component of modern security architectures, but at the same time they spark intense debates about proportionality, Transparency, retention periods, and the protection of Privacy Data protection authorities and civil rights organizations therefore regularly call for a clear legal basis as well as effective oversight and safeguards for such surveillance systems.
The GDPR requires that measures be proportionate
Under current law, such systems in Europe would be subject in particular to the requirements of the GDPR as well as—insofar as police and law enforcement agencies are concerned—national police laws and regulations governing Processing to assess the processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes.
The consolidation of large amounts of data from various sources poses significant risks to the rights and freedoms of data subjects and would regularly require the implementation of a Data Protection Impact Assessment require.
Of particular importance here are the principles of Earmarking, Data minimization, memory limit, and Transparency . The more comprehensive the monitoring and analysis, the higher the requirements for the legal basis, the proportionality of the measures, and the technical and organizational safeguards.
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