Privacy-Enabled CCTV

In the last four years there has been broader adoption of camera surveillance to counteract the threat of terrorism and increase our security. More locations around the world are deploying video surveillance systems using closed-circuit television. A person walking in Manhattan is caught on camera more than 100 times a day; in London the incidence occurs more than 300 times a day.

Potential for abuse and the lack of measures to protect individual privacy are major factors influencing adoption of CCTV systems in public, because surveys report that people still value their privacy. In schools, hospitals, government offices, courthouses, the need for video surveillance to increase safety is always carefully weighed against the right of individuals to maintain their privacy.

Privacy-enabled CCTV systems, using Eptascape products, facilitate the adoption of camera surveillance in public spaces, because Eptascape can address both needs for security surveillance and maintenance of individual privacy. Eptascape MPEG-7 object-based video encoder has the ability to identify behaviors while masking people's identities at the device level, thus protecting privacy while maintaining the surveillance factor.

The Eptascape video stream maintains encrypted details to reveal individual identity only when needed. In the case of a security incident or breach where there is the need to review captured video, designated authorities with decryption keys can review original, unaltered video without the privacy masking. With Eptascape it becomes possible for private and public organizations to establish and enforce privacy policies, defining rules that allow for viewing and dissemination of CCTV video under specific circumstances and only by authorized security personnel.

See a demo of privacy-enabled camera ...

For an interesting summary of the issues surrounding security and privacy read the article by Thomas B Riley, Executive Director and Chair, Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance of Canada, published in 2004 on eGov.