Avigilon deployment in Marbella
Information Certainty: Documented
Deployment Purpose: Surveillance
| Summary |
|---|
| 0 |
Products and Institutions:
| Product Deployed | Avigilon Facial Recognition Avigilon Movement Recognition |
|---|---|
| Institutions ⠉ | Avigilon Avigilon |
| Datasets | Unknown Dataset 0004 |
| Search software |
Status and Events:
| Status | Ongoing |
|---|---|
| Events | |
| Start Date | |
| End Date |
Users:
| Involved Entities | |
|---|---|
| Managed by | City of Marbella |
| Used by | Local Police (Marbella) |
Location:
| City | Marbella |
|---|---|
| Country ⠉ | Spain |
Description[edit | ]
Description[edit | ]
For the past year, Marbella has been using the most sophisticated urban video surveillance cameras in Spain. The city may have only 85 devices compared to the 220 in La Nucía, Alicante – which has the most in the country – but it is the area with the highest number of ultra-high definition cameras, according to the US software company, Avigilon. Only the border of the Spanish exclave city Ceuta in North Africa has more sophisticated cameras. First and second division soccer stadiums also use high-tech devices. And in the Madrid region, the towns Las Rozas de Madrid and Rivas Vaciamadrid have launched similar projects.
Regional legislation bans the use of facial recognition and other biometric data without consent. In order to identify the face of a suspect, the cameras must analyze the faces of everyone walking around the city. Marbella is not breaking this law. But the artificial intelligence (AI) software treads close to the line with its so-called “appearance search,” which detects unique facial traits, the color of a person’s clothes, age, shape, gender and hair color. None of this information can be considered biometric; it is what a police officer would see on the street. But artificial intelligence is able to scan thousands of hours worth of video to speed up the search. The system is also able to identify the model and color of any vehicle without knowing the number plate.
In addition to the appearance search, the Avigilon software includes another special AI function: it detects unusual movement. “To avoid graffiti, we can calculate the time someone takes to pass a shop window, “ says Javier Martín, local chief of police in Marbella. “If it takes them more than 10 seconds, the camera is activated to see if they are graffiting. So far, it hasn’t been activated.”
“The Marbella project has the most potential in Spain as far as the definition of the cameras and the design of the area covered are concerned,” says Cristóbal Martín, who runs Avigilon in southern Spain
Avigilon finished deploying its facial recognition software this week. This software is not allowed to be installed in municipal cameras. “We have private installations waiting to incorporate it,” says Cristóbal Martín. “It’s for those installations alone and cases that comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which are mostly private too. It will only be used in cities and public buildings when these are covered by the law or authorized by the national security forces."1
References
- ^ "Marbella, the biggest video surveillance lab in Spain". (2019) <https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/11/27/inenglish/1574849134_892168.html> Accessed: 2021-03-11