Briefcam in Boston

Briefcam in Boston
Excluded from graph
Deployment Status	Stopped
Deployment Start Date
Deployment End Date
Events	* uses Record type Property:Has event Start (13 April 2013, Speculative, ?, No description) uses Record type Property:Has event End (10 June 2020, Documented, ?, No description)
City	Boston (MA)
Country	USA
Involved Entities
Keywords
Technology Deployed	Briefcam (Software), Video Synopsis (Briefcam)
Information Certainty	Documented
Primary sources	1, 2, 3
Datasets Used	Briefcam (Dataset), Unknown Dataset 0088
Deployment Type	Surveillance, Traffic Surveillance
runs search software
managed by	City of Boston
used by	Boston Police Department, City of Boston
Potentially used by
Information Certainty	0
Summary	Since the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, Boston has utilized facial recognition technology, but by 2020, its use by police was prohibited. The city has contracts with Briefcam, a company that confirms its technology's capability for facial recognition, though both city and police officials deny its use. Legislation bans city officials from using facial recognition technology and prohibits contracts with third parties for such surveillance. However, tips from external law enforcement agencies using facial recognition can be pursued. BriefCam, previously involved with Boston Police Department for marathon bombing investigations, offers software with facial analysis capabilities. Boston Police have stated they will not use the facial recognition feature in software updates, and it remains unclear if BriefCam's latest version is in use or if a current contract exists.

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Information Certainty: Documented

Deployment Purpose: Surveillance, Traffic Surveillance

Summary

Since the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, Boston has utilized facial recognition technology, but by 2020, its use by police was prohibited. The city has contracts with Briefcam, a company that confirms its technology's capability for facial recognition, though both city and police officials deny its use. Legislation bans city officials from using facial recognition technology and prohibits contracts with third parties for such surveillance. However, tips from external law enforcement agencies using facial recognition can be pursued. BriefCam, previously involved with Boston Police Department for marathon bombing investigations, offers software with facial analysis capabilities. Boston Police have stated they will not use the facial recognition feature in software updates, and it remains unclear if BriefCam's latest version is in use or if a current contract exists.

• Details

Products and Institutions:

Product Deployed	Briefcam (Software) Video Synopsis (Briefcam)
Institutions ⠉	Briefcam Ltd Briefcam Ltd
Datasets	Briefcam (Dataset) Unknown Dataset 0088
Search software

Status and Events:

Status	Stopped
Events	Start (13 April 2013, Speculative, ?, No description) End (10 June 2020, Documented, ?, No description)
Start Date
End Date

Users:

Involved Entities
Managed by	City of Boston
Used by	Boston Police Department City of Boston

Location:

City	Boston (MA)
Country ⠉	USA

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Description

It is estimated that facial recognition has been in use in Boston since the Marathon bombing in April 2013. In 2020, facial recognition was banned for use by police. The city holds contracts with Briefcam, and Briefcam states on its website that facial recogniton can be used. Both the city and police deny the use of facial recognition.

The law makes it illegal for city officials to “obtain, retain, possess, access, or use” facial recognition technology against the people of Boston. It has also banned the government from entering into contracts with third parties to obtain face surveillance. However, Boston police and other officials are still allowed to follow up on tips from other law enforcement agencies who have used facial recognition software 3

BriefCam is mentioned in the ordinance as one of the face surveillance companies the Boston Police Department has used in the past, and the company claims to have worked with the BPD to investigate the Boston Marathon Bombing. A BuzzFeed News investigation also found that entities in and around Boston, including local police departments, have turned to another facial recognition company called Clearview AI 3

While the police department isn't using facial recognition technology now, an upgraded version of a video analysis software currently used by the department, called BriefCam, does have facial analysis power. Boston police said at a recent city council working session that it would not sign up for that part of the software update. It's not clear whether the department has upgraded to the newest version of BriefCam or if the city has a current contract with the company. Boston police did not yet respond to questions about the contract 1

Briefcam said of Boston:

Understand traffic trends and violations in a city scape with BriefCam Video Content Analytics. By making video searchable, BriefCam enables users to review video with speed and precision based on object class and attribute filters, face recognition, license plate recognition, direction, speed, visual layer heatmaps and more, as well as combinations of these. BriefCam Video Content Analysis and VIDEO SYNOPSIS technologies empower city officials to review video to pinpoint objects and behaviors of interest to drive intelligent decision making for traffic optimization and law enforcement and, ultimately, safe cities for pedestrian and vehicle traffic 2

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