Property: Summary
From Security Vision
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Hikvision, who provide biometric technologies, provided the security system and cameras for a large resort in the Bahamas. +
This is a Safe city project spread out over 7 cities in Philippines. The project is being conducted by the Philippines national government in partnership with the government of China. Around 12,000 cameras will be deployed over the 7 cities which have facial recognition capabilities with the goal to improve safety, reduce crime. The technology for the cameras is being provided by Huawei. +
In July 2021 the ministry of defense of Burkina Faso began SMART Burkina porject. The objective of this project is to fight against urban insecurity. The project initially takes place in two cities of the country Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and involves deployment of 900 cameras. The SMART Burkina project is financially supproted by the Chinese government. +
Huawei smart city developments are planned for I-City and Shah Alam. The city will serve as a hub for sensor based smart technologies. It appears that the data generated will also be used for some form of predictive policing. The use of CCTV sensors is also mentioned. Developments are underway since 2022, however I-City has been a smart city since 2009. Huawei has been selected to partner with I-Berhad, the company which develops smart cities such as I-City in Malaysia. +
In Botswana, Huawei has provided support for two safe city projects. Huawei's Safe Cities are purportedly for the benefit of crime reduction, but often extend to mass surveillance, with a focus on the interoperability of computer vision technologies. So far, cameras have certainly been installed in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, and are planned for Francistown, with the ultimate aim of cross-Botswana coverage. The installation process has been mired in political controversy over tendering, with Botswanas Public Procurement and Asset Board disputing the contracts. +
In 2017, the Chinese Government gave the Government of Guyana US$37.6 million for a National Broadband Expansion Project. Huawei is the supplier of the smart city technologies. The project is focussed on the development of e-governance and the expansion of broadband, but it has incorporated many elements of biometric surveillance. For example, the installation of 450 intelligent cameras around Guyana, the establishment of a control and command centre for the police, the supply of body worn cameras to police, the use of facial and license plate recognition technologies. Moreover the project is not limited to the 'city' but also includes smart healthcare video conferencing and camera placements in 11 schools. +
Rustenburg is a small city with two large platinum mines. Around 2018, Huawei began deploying smart city technologies. One of the prime uses of the technology was the reduction of crime, for which features such as 'video analysis' and 'identification systems' are listed. The intelligent cameras deployed are described as having the ability to identify suspects based on demographic characteristics as well as clothing. It appears some form of face detection or person detection is in use. +
Since 2014, Uganda has contracted Huawei to install CCTV cameras around the country. The network has facial recognition and feeds back to a number of fusion centers. The regime has a poor record of abuse of surveillance technologies, for example an investigation in 2019 carried out by the Wall Street Journal found that Huawei employees had assisted surveillance efforts against political opponents. Huawei denied culpability for these efforts. The decision to sell surveillance technologies to Uganda itself has been criticised by civil society groups due to Uganda's record, for example in 2010 Uganda used spyware on public WiFi. The government has also openly admitted to using the CCTV network to trace the identity of protestors who were protesting against the regime. In 2022 the cameras are still in operation, with the exact number estimated at 5,000. +
Huawei has an influential position in Zambia. Many of Zambia's development projects are funded by Huawei and the state is indebted to them. A major element of these development projects is the ICT transformation in the country. Huawei has built a 75 million dollar data centre for the purposes of centralised egovernance in Zambia. Zambia is in the process of procuring a biometric national ID. In terms of video surveillance, Huawei reportedly installed cameras around Lusaka to surveil shops and identify motorists. In Uganda a similar network was found to have facial recognition. In Zambia, like in Uganda, Huawei technologies have also been associated with the interception of the political communications of political opponents (spying). +
In 2012, Ghana began cooperation with Huawei to install 800 security cameras in Accra, as well as crime centres to monitor the video. In 2018, they signed a deal with Huawei to expand the project to Alpha Phase 2, with the Chinese government providing funding for the acquisition. A report details that the nature of the expansion will include the addition of 'intelligent video analysis' and 'real time' fugitive detection. The camera network has been expanded to major cities and small districts in Ghana. Automatic number plate recognition is confirmed as a feature of the camera network. The report details that Huawei and the Chinese Government play a role in the management of the systems, it will only be fully handed over to the Ghana Ministry of National Security in the event of the projects completion. The 2019 report details that there has been concern from members in the Parliament about the system being owned by Huawei. Therefore it can be speculated that Huawei do indeed maintain ownership of the syste. +
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In 2013, Accra was selected as a beneficiary of IBM smart city technology. Accra is a fast growing city and there was a need to manage the 'influx' of persons. IBM issued a report detailing the technological solutions that could be provided to Accra. A range of public and private sector actors were involved in consultations. It is not clear exactly whether biometric technologies have been employed. However these are a feature of other IBM smart city projects. Since 2021, Accra has installed a network of smart cameras from Huawei. +
In 2017, the City Council of Penang acquired funding to secure the island using a network of cameras, to be rolled out between 2017-2020. The cameras were equipped with facial recognition capabilities from IBM. Penang City Council managed the network but is also stated that they link to the headquarters of police departments on the island. IBM has since discontinued its facial recognition for law enforcement products. However as the system was by then owned by the Council it is likely still in use. +
In 2015 the twin cities of Sekondi-Takoradi became recipients of an IBM grant, and received consultancy from IBM on developments in their city. The metro also received a 500,000 dollar upgrade from IBM. The metro is since out of use. It is unclear whether biometrics were used as part of these smart city iniatiatives, but IBM smart cities often feature tools such as sensors, people tracking and face detection. +
The Municipality of Las Condes and the Investigations Police implemented a video surveillance system for the commune, which includes facial recognition software that allows forensic analysis of images captured by security cameras. The software has the capacity to process 10 specialized cameras in real time for recognition, but it is also possible to upload external videos with images captured by other cameras for analysis.
The algorithm used is Morpho Video Investigator (MVI), developed by IDEMIA. It works in conjunction with a database to match the images of faces registered in the database with the images of faces on video, and thus identify individuals who have committed crimes.
The implementation began during 2019, with the municipality being in charge of the system infrastructure, while PDI is concerned with managing the software using its own database. +
In Iskandar, police use an integrated video management system to detect crimes. This forms part of the safe city plans for the region. Since 2012, IPSEC security has been the systems integrator for the video based technologies. The actual products in use are unknown. IPSEC's main partner for deployments in Malaysia is Dahua, who offer facial recognition. It is possible that forensic facial recognition or other forms of analytics are being used to carry out criminal investigations. It is mentioned that 'intelligent' video analysis is at play, and that anomalies and 'events' of interest can be detected. +