CCTV is still television
Introduction to CCTV
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) provides a continuous stream of pictures to some form of monitoring equipment or to a screen that can be monitored by a person. It was invented in 1942 by Siemens, it was used to safely monitor the launch of V2 rockets. Its usage was restricted to military and workplace purposes till, British social scientists and industrialists conducted a series of experiments in the 70′s and 80′s to study effects of using surveillance on anti-social behavior and crime. In the UK a notable experiment was conducted in Bournemouth town center 1985. This experiment saw the introduction of outside CCTV cameras.
Modern CCTV systems use point to point wireless transmission of video content over IP to a post processing and storage server. They are often used in industry in situations where environment is dangerous and sometimes employ thermographc or low light cameras.
The estimated the number of surveillance cameras in private premises in London is around 500,000 and the total number of cameras in the UK is around 4,200,000. This is approximately one camera for every 14 people. The CCTV User Group estimate that there around 1.5 million CCTV cameras in city centers across the UK. In the UK today 10 million car journeys were recorded, this information will be stored for 5 years, it is expected that this will be expanded to 40 million a day and with changes in legislation it will be permissible to store this for 10 years.
A CCTV system that is employed to reduce crime offsets an individuals right to privacy against the public need for protection.
The media industry has long been tackling privacy issues, and interestingly it is the massive media campaigns centered around CCTV footage that popularised its uses in crime prevention. Critics of CCTV say that its a social mechanism that regulates individual and group behavior rather than a crime deterrent. However 9/11 changed this western perception. After the July 7th bombings the mass media was surprised at how few trains and buses had CCTV this has lead to a massive increase in CCTV deployment.
Before we examine CCTV further it is important to clearly identify the uses of this surveillance technology and the categorize why it is deployed.
Monitoring
To watch the flow of traffic of people, objects or vehicles. I.e. to study the movement of people where you do not need to pick out individual figures. An example of this is the safety camera on a tube train that shows the driver that the train doors are closed. This is the most common usage in US and Europe.
Detecting
To detect the presence of a person in the image, without needing to see their face. An example of this usage is when a camera is pointed at a hotel reception so that staff can leave the station unmanned at unpopular times.
Recognizing
To recognize somebody you know, or determine that somebody is not known to you. This is used on residential door entry systems, or to allow vehicles into a garage / loading area.
Identifying
To record high quality facial images which can be used in court to prove someones identity beyond reasonable doubt. This is by far the most common use within Britain and the UK.
When deploying CCTV systems make sure that you understand which of these purposes that the camera serves, deploying technology that facilitates a use that is not appropriate could find you and your organization in breach of the data protection act.
Information that is collected and stored against an individual is called “profile” data. CCTV footage, loyalty card usage, browsing behavior and where you parked your car is collectively referred to as your profile.
The current CCTV market
The 2009 UK CCTV market has an estimated value of £700 million. There is not a referencable estimate of global market value however, it is widely accepted that this is in the region of £15bn.
The global CCTV market which includes both IP CCTV and conventional CCTV systems has been growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.38% for the period spanning from 2005 to 2007 and is fore casted to grow at a CAGR of over 13% from 2007 to 2011. Longer range growth predictions exceed this.
The global demand for conventional CCTV systems which include analogue cameras, tape systems and monitoring systems is showing downward trend. Where as the escalating demand for IP based digital CCTV surveillance systems that integrate with the network and identity systems is growing so fast that the downward trend for the conventional systems is hidden.
In 2006, US and Europe accounted for more than 85% of the global CCTV market. It is expected that major demand for CCTV systems will come from Asia-Pacific region in future. Trends and marketing analysis from the Beijing Olympics support this view.
There is a massive move away from manned installations, and the Human Computer Interface equipment that comes along with them. In general all CCTV equipment prices are falling, and there is a large growth predicted in remote monitoring services who will work more like an Internet chat room moderator than a security guard.
The intelligent video surveillance system is emerging as a new trend that is driving the video surveillance software market, with many many products on sale. Various sectors like retail, health care, and transportation are the new opportunities for this technology.
Large growth is expected for the “rapid deployment” style cameras and systems. These are systems that are very small, and light weight. They communicate wirelessly a all storage is done over the network remotely.
Total revenue for installation is expected to drop (and has dropped 1% to 45% in 2007) however growth monitoring services is expected to rise 10% to 2011
CCTV is a indicator of wider social change
The endemic penetration of CCTV into public spaces is at the moment a peculiarly British phenomenon. Placement of a CCTV camera in cities in Europe and the US meets with considerable resistance. For example there are only an estimated 2,000 CCTV cameras in New York.
It is fair to say that people have a dipolar opinion towards to CCTV, which is understandable when you examine the the underlying purpose that surveillance serves. The etymology of the word “surveillance”is “to observe from above”, i.e. to hierarchically examine subordinate social groups. If you were to walk down brick lane (popular London street) you would be caught on over 300 cameras, only a very small number of which are state owned. Social activists are reporting and publicising the location of cameras http://www.flickr.com/photos/keepingitfake/26410514/ as they consider that this information is in the public interest.
The social complaint against CCTV is only partially directed at the thousands of images ourselves that are constantly collected. Till operators see our loyalty cards in the supermarket and we need a coded access card to get into the office or mass transit system in the morning.
In combination these systems represent a basic, complex infrastructure which assumes that gathering and processing personal data is vital to contemporary living.
The second world war saw not only the introduction of surveillance technology it also saw the dominance of a bureaucratic led society. Individuals within such societies are rewarded when the group as a whole operates more efficiently. To optimise a communication pattern or output you must first examine behaviour and to this end surveillance is a power full tool. Surveillance is a result of a bureaucratic society striving for greater efficiency we have to note that procuring new technology surveillance supports the economy.
CCTV is about social exclusion and discrimination. Surveillance, privacy-invasion and privacy-protection differentiate between groups, advantaging some and, by the same token, disadvantaging others. This is the point of surveillance.
Risk management demands full knowledge of the situation. So personal data are sought in order to know where to direct resources , surveillance enables this. Police hot-spots are predominantly in non-white areas, and supermarkets are located in upscale neighbourhoods easily reached by those with cars
It is only after a scandal, leak or mistake that the public learn of the extent of the profile stored on them by corporations and the government. When it does happen the focus is often on the prevention of this leak rather than limiting the information stored. The individual is at a disadvantage in controlling the effect of surveillance.
Profile data is used by the government and corporations to help shape an individuals life chances, and it only seems only fair that ordinary people should have a say, in the UK this is reflected in the 1991 Data protection act and it legalizes and facilitates negotiation between the surveillant and the surveyed.
As the UK is a leader in CCTV it is also a leader in the social mechanisms and controls that govern its usage, note that the data protection act is only in the UK and other countries have a far lower level of transparency and accountability. In times of extreme social change these governance mechanisms to protect an individuals profile are ignored. A notable incident was the illegal use of census data in USA in the second world war to help with the internment of Japanese Americans. Also the 2006 release of aynomamised AOL search data, which was very quickly used to identify individuals by cross correlation of behavioural information shows how data can be abused.
Modern technology such as CCTV, web logs and Loyalty cards are an enabler for social sorting, which gives a commercial advantage to industry and a economic advantage to government. It is therefore becoming endemic. Companies and the government seek the ability to draw correlation between behavioural data and profile data and to change an outcome via an intervention. This is referred to as “Data Power”.
Individuals are naturally worried about the implications of these social changes and a considerable number of pressure groups who are dedicated to causes related to CCTV have appeared. Amusingly in the US and Europe these pressure groups are national and predominantly dedicated to the removal of CCTV cameras, where as in the UK they are on the vast majority local and have an agenda for additional cameras (notably in subways).
Data Protection Act – DPA
All organisations that are involved with the placement of and introduction of CCTV systems within the UK have a legal obligation to familiarize themselves with the Information Commission Office CCTV code of practice, revised 2008. The guidance is very down to earth and primarily focuses on some very important questions about the placement of CCTV equipment is such a way as to not infringe an individuals rights.
The first and most important question you have to ask when placing equipment
Why place the CCTV equipment or mast?
If you can answer this question then guidance leads you into answering these additional questions.
Do the recorded pictures and prints as well as the live screens produce good clear pictures?
This is important to ensure that there has not been an unacceptable loss of detail during
the recording process. Have you considered the compression settings for recording material? In a digital system, a high level of compression will result in poorer picture quality on playback.
This message was underlined in the governments “the CCTV wasn’t working, the terrorist still is” media campaign.
Is the recording medium in such a way that images cannot be inadvertently corrupted?
If going to the expense of recording material for later use you must ensure that the tape’s will not degrade, or that the content is overly compressed. This guidance was aimed at the old tape and people based systems, as we will see in the marketing analysis this is a declining problem.
Is there a regular check that the date and time stamp recorded on the images is accurate?
The content would not be submisable if it could not be tied to a specific date and time.
If facial recognition is being used, are the cameras placed so images are clearly captured?
Are the results of any match checked by people before any action is taken?
Again the court has to be certain that the software identifies the right person
If a wireless transmission system is used, are sufficient safeguards in place to protect it
from being intercepted?
The majority of modern CCTV systems use wireless to transmit the video stream to the server infrastructure. This is often off site, depending on the number of cameras, available bandwidth and usage.
Is it easy to take copies of a recording off your system when asked for by the police?
You are legally obliged to provide copies of data gathered upon request, you there for should provision for this outcome.
The most notable inclusion the DPA is …
Individuals whose images are recorded have a right to view the images of themselves and,
unless they agree otherwise, to be provided with a copy of the images.
Incredibly to limit the scope of and keep a watchful eye on the data power of organisations who deploy CCTV systems, the state has included a genius clause that allows an individual
to request images stored of them selves for a cost of less than £10. (Yes, London transport is legally obliged to proved those 300 photographs of you walking down the street, as long as you are happy to pay the £3000). As with all British innovations it would not be worthy unless one of our comedians parodied it. This was done by Mark Thomas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-La714aW4U4 and http://www.markthomasinfo.com/info/series5.asp
If a CCTV system s deployed within a mass transit system and the usage of the system is for crime preventions and covert surveillance activities, then the law enforcement community are not covered by the DPA and are instead covered by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act (RIPSA) 2000.
Does CCTV work?
Research by the Cardiff Violence Research Group has suggests that police data reflects changes in policing activity against violence rather than measuring changing levels of actual violence. The study show arrest rates against hospital admissions and their study showed an association between the introduction of CCTV surveillance and increased police detection of violence (http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/4/312 ).
In a HMO government document entitled “The Impact of CCTV: fourteen case studies” it provides a detailed analysis of the deployment of where forty-seven cameras were added to an existing city centre and transport system, extending it into adjacent residential and industrial areas, and linking it with a hospital system. Following its installation recorded crime decreased by 28 per cent and this decrease was statistically significantly greater than the control town, suggesting that CCTV could have impacted on crime in the target area. However acquisitive crimes decreased, whilst more spontaneous offences showed an increase.
A 2008 Report by UK Police Chiefs concluded that only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV.
CCTV technology
Analogue CCTV systems were large complex and used the technical components of broadcast media architecture, which are notoriously expensive. However the modern IP CCTV camera uses little more than the camera its self.
The additional hardware components are essentially the same as any IT system. Its worth note that camera’s chew bandwidth, and the more camera’s you have the bigger the problem. Software components come with heavy licence cost but it is a world away in comparison to the old analogue monitoring and infrastructure costs. Wireless recording devices can be directly placed on to the IP network.
Also CCDP closed circuit digital photography which uses lower cost equipment, normally a PC, and a flash card, it keeps a record of changes and is known as a “install and forget” device.
Traffic monitoring software is designed to detect congestion and find accidents, however – noticeably these are privately owned and are used in the transmission of data to drivers GPS system. An exception to this is the congestion charging technology in London.
The future for surveillance, its technology
The first an most noticeable (least noticeable) technology change that we will see is the that the security systems will become aestheticised and ubiquitous. Surveillance devices will be small, invisible and implanted in the most mundane of objects, they will not require wiring and will quietly post information to centralised servers. This technology change is needed by companies and governments that wish to reap the benefits of surveillance in bureaucratic regions outside of the UK.
We will see the introduction of the invisible automated security barrier, which is an anti terror system that is integrated with the building, undesirable elements who are attempting to enter an area under the control of such a system will see bollards appear in the middle of the road to stop their vehicle or will find that their route is blocked by an alerted security guard.
It is expected that unmanned automatic spy panes for traffic and security monitoring will be deployed for the London 2012 Olympic games, this will be ushered in with a whole raft of other security systems leading some media sources (outside of the UK) to note that London 2012 games will be more like a media and surveillance systems show than a sporting event. Media sources inside the UK are heralding the 2012 Olympics as an example of how mass events can be organised safly.
Innovations in 3d imaging will lead to a global 3d mesh which takes contribution from many profile sources including cameras, finical systems, telecoms systems. It will be possible to track and monitor many millions of Individuals who will all be placed onto the mesh and can be monitored by operatives. It will be possible to execute sociogeospatial queries and provide meaningful results with such a system. For example it will be possible to alert an authority is 3 or more potential terrorists are ever in the same coffee bar together.
The concepts of defensibility, social gating and intervention will become mainstream parts of urban design.
The high street will change and form a “brandscape” of different products. Shop windows, posters and telescreens will change according to the person or group that is looking at it. These Intelligent billboards will form a part of the brand experience that groups and individuals will travel into town centers to enjoy. Face recognition and chip implants allow access to special VIP areas, Credit checks will happen on your face, before you have even got to the till and sales people will be coming to your assistance based on a recognition of positive buying signs.
In the present day ‘Information warfare’ has come out of the dark shadows of military covert operations and into the bright light of the business world, where corporate espionage is rife and the computer penetration and security specialists are re designated as ‘knowledge warriors’. There will still be underground movements of people who will be actively protesting against information abuse and miss-use of data power, this will manifest itself in a movement around Open CCTV (OCCTV) and sousvellience which empowers a community from the bottom rather than from above.
What does it mean ?
There is no doubt that CCTV is big business, the incredible amount of content that these systems will generate far exceeds anything that mankind has previously known. Interpreting all the incoming information will need new tools, new skills and will have new unforeseen implications on society.
purchasing data + surveillance data + media consumption data = data power.
data power = the ability to predict an individuals or groups behaviour.
