1/4 The scan car is also watching (photo: Tom van den Oetelaar).
In the inner cities of Brabant, the number of places with camera surveillance is growing rapidly. Hanging from posts and facades, or mounted on the roofs of special scan cars, nothing escapes the digital eyes. And it also provides the municipal treasury with nice money, because the number of filmed violations and therefore fines has never been so high. But can municipalities just continue to expand camera surveillance? Privacy watchdogs Bits of Freedom and Privacy First are very concerned. A look at Breda.
The official government agency that monitors our privacy, the Dutch Data Protection Authority, writes on its website: “The municipality may install cameras in public places to maintain public order. The police may view the images to check whether everything is running smoothly and safely.”
“The supervision of the growth of the number of cameras by the Dutch Data Protection Authority is flawed and ineffective.”
However, it is not yet clear what exactly municipalities are allowed to monitor. “The municipality must have a good reason for every new camera. But there are more and more and the Dutch Data Protection Authority does not monitor that in practice,” says Lotte Houwing of the Bits of Freedom foundation, which stands up for digital civil rights.
Vincent Böhre of the Privacy First foundation is even clearer: “The supervision by the Dutch Data Protection Authority is flawed and ineffective.”
“Only the license plates are filmed, so privacy is guaranteed.”
15 new surveillance cameras were recently installed in Breda. These come on top of the dozens of other digital eyes in the city center. At the request of the shopkeepers, who are tired of vehicles driving on the shopping street for no good reason. The new cameras now monitor all number plates in the pedestrian zone. If the driver does not have an exemption, a letter from the Central Judicial Collection Agency will be delivered a few days later.
Chairman Willem de Laat of the Ondernemersfonds Breda is happy: “It helps enormously. We notice that people who have absolutely nothing to do there no longer come.”
“As a visitor to the city center you walk from one camera image to the other.”
Alderman responsible Daan Quaars emphasizes that everything has been arranged very carefully: “If the cameras detect a violation, that image goes to a special room at the city office where an enforcement specialist checks or checks. Only the license plates are filmed, so privacy is guaranteed.”
92 other cameras in the center have another application. And that is precisely what Bits of Freedom is concerned about. Nadia Benaissa: “As a visitor to the city center you actually walk from one camera image to the other. These devices can do more and more and you can use them for many more enforcement tasks. Do we as citizens want that?”
Böhle of Privacy First goes even further: “An iron law is that the cameras are first used for a valid and clear purpose, but gradually they are also used for completely different things. For example, for tracking down suspects or vehicles, especially in combination with Wi-Fi. cell phone tracking.” And yes, Wi-Fi tracking is also being done in the city center of Breda.
“You have to ask yourself what kind of society we want?”
According to alderman Quaars, careful thought is given to safeguarding privacy: “We have drawn up a vision in Breda about the digital society. It also concerns ethics. So about how far you want to go with digitization. That is an incredibly complicated and topical issue. question. We discuss this with other cities, educational institutions, the police and the security region.”
Bits of Freedom believes that the city council in particular should have that discussion first. “With all the technical possibilities of today, you have to ask yourself what kind of society we want. You first have to answer those fundamental questions before you opt for cameras and other tracking systems, for example,” explains Nadia Benaissa.
“It is up to the city council of Breda to set a limit here.”
Vincent Böhle of Privacy First: “It is up to the city council of Breda to set a limit here. Otherwise there is a great chance that Big Brother is really looking over your shoulder. And that is independent of the question of whether the hardware and software of cameras prevent other people from watching, as is doubted with Chinese cameras.”
ALSO READ: Controversial Chinese cameras hang in these Brabant municipalities
Watch the YouTube report about camera use in Breda below:
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