Cctv Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This article argues the ill-chosen term "Open Platforms" in the IP CCTV industry which has a very different meaning to the Open Platforms in the computer industry.

Dynamically changing background ("dynamic background") still presents a great challenge to many motion-based video surveillance systems. In the context of event detection, it is a major source of false alarms. There is a strong need from... more

Dynamically changing background ("dynamic background") still presents a great challenge to many motion-based video surveillance systems. In the context of event detection, it is a major source of false alarms. There is a strong need from the security industry either to detect and suppress these false alarms, or dampen the effects of background changes, so as to increase the sensitivity to meaningful events of interest. In this paper, we restrict our focus to one of the most common causes of dynamic background changes: that of swaying tree branches and their shadows under windy conditions. Considering the ultimate goal in a video analytics pipeline, we formulate a new dynamic background detection problem as a signal processing alternative to the previously described but unreliable computer vision-based approaches. Within this new framework, we directly reduce the number of false alarms by testing if the detected events are due to characteristic background motions. In addition, we introduce a new dataset suitable for the evaluation of dynamic background detection. It consists of real-world events detected by a commercial surveillance system from two static surveillance cameras. The research question we address is whether dynamic background can be detected reliably and efficiently using simple motion features and in the presence of similar but meaningful events such as loitering. Inspired by the tree aerodynamics theory, we propose a novel method named local variation persistence (LVP), that captures the key characteristics of swaying motions. The method is posed as a convex optimization problem whose variable is the local variation. We derive a computationally efficient algorithm for solving the optimization problem, the solution of which is then used to form a powerful detection statistic. On our newly collected dataset, we demonstrate that the proposed LVP achieves excellent detection results and outperforms the best alternative adapted from existing art in the dynamic background literature.

Every technology has its history. What are the beginnings of public television? This article explores the use of police CCTV in West Germany between the 1950s and the 1970s. In these early years, the public police cameras served three... more

Every technology has its history. What are the beginnings of public television? This article explores the use of police CCTV in West Germany between the 1950s and the 1970s. In these early years, the public police cameras served three functions: the use of cameras in traffic management; the repressive use of cameras at demonstrations; and the persuasive use of the images. The second part of the paper takes a closer look at the third function: surveillance images as a means of persuading offenders of their guilt. It is argued, that a persuasive force exists and is consciously exploited by the police. But this force also weakens over time, when subjects acquire more and more media competence. The police respond to this problem with the transition from still to moving images – and beyond.

Abstrakt: V dnešných spoločnostiach sa oblasti prevencie a boja proti kriminalite spolieha na používanie moderných technológií. Od prelomu tisícročia boli v slovenských samosprávach implementované moderné technológie za týmto účelom a ich... more

Abstrakt: V dnešných spoločnostiach sa oblasti prevencie a boja proti kriminalite spolieha na používanie moderných technológií. Od prelomu tisícročia boli v slovenských samosprávach implementované moderné technológie za týmto účelom a ich počet sa exponenciálne zvyšuje. Technológie, ako napríklad priemyselné kamery, sa používajú vo verejných priestoroch v takmer každej slovenskej samospráve. Cieľom tohto príspevku je poukázať na fungovanie moderných technológií na boj proti kriminalite a s tým súvisiacich sociálnych nákladov. V slovenskom kontexte skúma právny rámec ich využívania, reguláciu a vládnu podporu. Prezentuje tiež prehľad využívania týchto technológií v niekoľkých slovenských mestách. Abstract: In contemporary societies, the areas of preventing and combating crime rely heavily on the use of modern technology. Since the turn of the millennium, modern technologies have been implemented in Slovak municipalities for this purposes and their number has been increasing exponentially. Technologies, such as CCTV cameras are used in public areas in almost every Slovak municipality. This paper aims at outlining the functioning of modern technologies to fight crime within the context of surveillance and the associated social costs. In the Slovak context, it examines the legal framework for their use, their regulation and governmental support. It also presents an overview of these technologies used in Slovak regional centers. Úvod Kriminalita patrí aj v súčasnosti k jedným z najzávažnejších spoločenských problémov, keďže spôsobuje výrazné fyzické, materiálne a finančné škody. Nadobúda rozličné formy a konkrétne činnosti od trestných činov po rozličné priestupky. Prevencia kriminality preto patrí k dôležitým funkciám štátu a jeho rozličných orgánov. Významnosť týchto aktivít v prostredí Slovenska podtrhuje aj fakt, že na úrovni vlády existuje Rada vlády pre prevenciu kriminality. Technologický pokrok v oblasti informačných technológií priniesol radikálne zmeny v boji proti kriminalite a jej prevencii. Tieto zmeny priniesli využívanie čoraz väčšieho množstva moderných technológií za účelom odhaľovania a prevencie kriminality – či už nástroje na monitorovanie internetu a elektronických komunikácií, alebo fyzickú prítomnosť priemyselných kamier a iných nahrávacích zariadení v uliciach, budovách a prostriedkoch verejnej dopravy. Priemyselné kamery sa vyskytujú vo verejných priestoroch v slovenských obciach čoraz častejšie. Pohyb osôb v uliciach, námestiach, ako aj rôznych komerčných priestoroch, sa neustále monitoruje a zaznamenáva. Dôvodom tohto vývoja je relatívna 421

The digital (r)evolution of the last twenty years changed almost everything. Analogue vinyl records morphed into CDs with MP3 formats; rotary dialled telephones became digital wireless mobile devices; celluloid films and movies became... more

The digital (r)evolution of the last twenty years changed almost everything. Analogue vinyl records morphed into CDs with MP3 formats; rotary dialled telephones became digital wireless mobile devices; celluloid films and movies became digital solid state sensor produced movies displayed on huge LCD or OLED screens, the whole world got connected on so many different levels via Internet…
In the security industry, the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) technology migrated from the old analogue PAL/NTSC based cameras with limited resolution of 480TV lines into digital IP cameras with incredible resolution and almost limitless recording capacity.
The real problem now is - how to find an event that has happened a week or two ago without knowing its exact time and date.
Intelligent Video Analytics comes to help...

Modern surveillance devices are increasingly being taken off private networks and placed onto networks connected via gateway to the Internet or into Wi-Fi based local area wireless networks (LAWN). The devices are also increasingly using... more

Modern surveillance devices are increasingly being taken off private networks and placed onto networks connected via gateway to the Internet or into Wi-Fi based local area wireless networks (LAWN). The devices are also increasingly using IPv4 and IPv6 network stacks and some form of embedded processing or compute built in. Additionally, some specialist devices are using assistive technologies such as GPS or A-GPS. This paper explored the issues with use of the technologies in a networked environment, both wireless and internetworked. Analysis of these systems shows that the use of IP based CCTV systems carries greater risk than traditional CCTV systems, primarily due to the exposure to IP based vulnerabilities. Furthermore, Wi-Fi based IP CCTV systems are additionally susceptible to remote, physical denial of service attacks due to the broadcast nature of wireless communication systems. Interception of traffic is possible with IP based systems, and again, Wi-Fi IP based CCTV systems...

Faced with the demand that they develop more efficacious security measures and find more cost-effective crime prevention strategies, law enforcement agencies around the globe are, now more than ever, turning toward technological systems... more

When Jill Meagher vanished from the streets of Brunswick in 2012, she became a household name. When Adrian Bayley was arrested and charged with her murder, he embodied the risk of what can happen to women who are out alone... more

When Jill Meagher vanished from the streets of Brunswick in 2012, she became a household name. When Adrian Bayley was arrested and charged with her murder, he embodied the risk of what can happen to women who are out alone at night. When CCTV footage of Meagher and Bayley’s fateful encounter was repeatedly reproduced within mainstream media, CCTV was championed as the technology that would prevent crimes such as this from occurring again, whilst at the same time providing a visual warning for those who choose to walk alone at night. With increased focus and funding allocated toward this
surveillance technology, this paper will critically examine these current realities of CCTV within Melbourne spaces. Focusing not only on the physical presence of CCTV to influence behaviour, this paper will also address the discursive power of CCTV to influence practices of everyday life within the city, beyond crime prevention. This will be drawn out specifically through the analysis of gender in spaces and gendered spaces. Using the Meagher case as a framework, this paper illustrates how a firmly established surveillance technology continues to drastically alter the way in which we think about, feel about, and move within the city at night.

Over the last two decades the use of video surveillance has grown in scope and numbers. However, research on the national contexts that have driven such developments tends to concentrate on Northern and Western Europe. This article... more

Over the last two decades the use of video surveillance has grown in scope and numbers. However, research on the national contexts that have driven such developments tends to concentrate on Northern and Western Europe. This article explores the situation of CCTV in Spain, its legal framework, perceived shortcomings, public perceptions and specificity –such as a pre-9/11 concern for terrorism but its minimal impact on the justification for CCTV, a rights-based and a priori control of video surveillance devices and a deployment pattern that differs from those identified in the literature on CCTV at the European and global level. In providing an account on how Spain has joined the ‘surveillance society’, it exposes a picture of unevenness, legal loopholes and resistance, and provides a unique overview of CCTV deployment in a Southern-European, post-authoritarian country.

Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) is increasingly utilised by local councils across Australia. Local government CCTV operated in conjunction with police has brought about new challenges for democracy. This article explores survey results... more

Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) is increasingly utilised by local councils across Australia. Local government CCTV operated in conjunction with police has brought about new challenges for democracy. This article explores survey results regarding the provision of federal funding to 18 local councils to install CCTV. The costs to councils of operating CCTV have been largely unforeseen. This article examines the contemporary political context in Australia to illu- minate reasons why funding is allocated to local councils. CCTV funding is driven by populism and political pressure rather than a more objective rationale. This article suggests the need for new directions in local council CCTV evaluations, and for critical evaluations that take into account not just the financial and social costs of CCTV but also political trends. Critical evaluations have the potential to strengthen the capacity of local councils to make more empowered and informed decisions about the costs and implications of operating CCTV.

This master thesis aims at answering the following questions: what is the spatial distribution of public open-street CCTV cameras in Brussels and Copenhagen? How does this distribution relate to the socio-economic structure of these... more

This master thesis aims at answering the following questions: what is the spatial distribution of public open-street CCTV cameras in Brussels and Copenhagen? How does this distribution relate to the socio-economic structure of these cities? What conclusions can we draw from this relation in terms of political urban priorities? We used mapping and semi-structured interviews to help us conduct our comparative analysis. We found that if the two capital cities were subject to common trends i.e. the neoliberal governance of insecurity in the context of global city competition, the actual uptake of video surveillance takes different forms and intensities in our two case studies and must be analysed in light of their local political economy.

This paper examines the representations of CCTV in contemporary popular culture, namely Hollywood film from the perspective of culture and film studies. It starts from the observation that a growing number of Hollywood films are not only... more

This paper examines the representations of CCTV in contemporary popular culture, namely Hollywood film from the perspective of culture and film studies. It starts from the observation that a growing number of Hollywood films are not only using (fake) CCTV images within their narrative, but are actually developing ‘rhetorics of surveillance’. Following the argument of Thomas Y. Levin, contemporary Hollywood film is increasingly fascinated with (the images of) video surveillance. This fascination can be explained with the use of ‘real time’ and a shift from spatial to temporal indexicality in these movies. The paper then takes a closer look at three recent films: Tony Scott's Enemy of the State, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report and David Fincher's Panic Room. The role and uses of CCTV imagery in these films are analyzed; the role of the heroine under surveillance is examined; modes of (im-)possible resistance against CCTV are discussed.

This paper analyzes the expanding use of legitimate covert CCTV in the workplace in Spain. By examining the recent evolution of the jurisprudence in that field, we focus on the legal reasons that support court decisions from 2000 to the... more

This paper analyzes the expanding use of legitimate covert CCTV in the workplace in Spain. By examining the recent evolution of the jurisprudence in that field, we focus on the legal reasons that support court decisions from 2000 to the present and add some criminological and ethical perspectives to better comprehend not only the legal rationale, but also some other collateral effects that employers should take into account in implementing covert surveillance. We conclude that verification of a previous objective pattern of risk involving criminal behavior is crucial for ceding the general principles on respecting privacy. The central argument involves the exceptional case an employer may find when there is a continuous situation and the only way to stop it is by discovering the wrongdoers in action. The paper shows the method for further research and a more detailed rationale for improving legal and decision-making analyses in this field.

From Jeannette Baxter and Roland Wymer’s introduction to J.G. Ballard: Visions and Revisions: ‘In “Zones of Transition”, Sellars rereads the psychosocial character and logic of Ballardian space in light of the idiosyncratic, realworld... more

Many authors have written about issues related to privacy, legitimacy and efficiency in relation to CCTV systems in public space as a crime prevention strategy. Some have approached them separately; others have tried to come up with more... more

Many authors have written about issues related to privacy, legitimacy and efficiency in relation to CCTV systems in public space as a crime prevention strategy. Some have approached them separately; others have tried to come up with more comprehensive approaches. Few, however, have dealt with how such concerns have been put into practice by those who have to decide on the uptake of CCTV. This article considers some reflections on efficacy, legitimacy and privacy in relation to CCTV, as an introduction to the case of how the members of the Control Commission of Video surveillance Devices in Catalonia took these issues into consideration and interpreted the Law when deciding whether to approve a petition submitted by the City Council to install three cameras in Barcelona’s public space in 2003. It concludes by drawing some conclusions from the process, as a way to highlight the complexity of the policy process around surveillance in open, public spaces.

In the last decade, video-surveillance systems became a common presence in the urban public spaces. Many studies have described such processes and their relationships with global concerns on security but not very much has been said about... more

In the last decade, video-surveillance systems became a common presence in the urban public spaces. Many studies have described such processes and their relationships with global concerns on security but not very much has been said about the role of spatial planning and of local micro-politics of urban space. In this paper, the author builds on Foucault's reading of Bentham's panopticon to debate the consistence of surveillance systems in two southern European cities, Lisbon and Palermo, in order to debate the role of urban planning in the ongoing processes.

Modern surveillance devices are increasingly being taken off private networks and placed onto networks connected via gateway to the Internet or into Wi-Fi based local area wireless networks (LAWN). The devices are also increasingly using... more

Modern surveillance devices are increasingly being taken off private networks and placed onto networks connected via gateway to the Internet or into Wi-Fi based local area wireless networks (LAWN). The devices are also increasingly using IPv4 and IPv6 network stacks and some form of embedded processing or compute built in. Additionally, some specialist devices are using assistive technologies such as GPS or A-GPS. This paper explored the issues with use of the technologies in a networked environment, both wireless and internetworked. Analysis of these systems shows that the use of IP based CCTV systems carries greater risk than traditional CCTV systems, primarily due to the exposure to IP based vulnerabilities. Furthermore, Wi-Fi based IP CCTV systems are additionally susceptible to remote, physical denial of service attacks due to the broadcast nature of wireless communication systems. Interception of traffic is possible with IP based systems, and again, Wi-Fi IP based CCTV systems are more susceptible due to protocol vulnerabilities and lack of processing power. The paper concludes that more research is needed in this area to identify and classify generic vulnerabilities that these systems are vulnerable to, and to present a framework which can be used to mitigate the risk of adopting these systems.

In this paper I critique the ethical implications of automating CCTV surveillance. I consider three modes of CCTV with respect to automation: manual (or non-automated), fully automated, and partially automated. In each of these I examine... more

In this paper I critique the ethical implications of automating CCTV surveillance. I consider three modes of CCTV with respect to automation: manual (or non-automated), fully automated, and partially automated. In each of these I examine concerns posed by processing capacity, prejudice towards and profiling of surveilled subjects, and false positives and false negatives. While it might seem as if fully automated surveillance is an improvement over the manual alternative in these areas, I demonstrate that this is not necessarily the case. In preference to the extremes I argue in favour of partial automation in which the system integrates a human CCTV operator with some level of automation. To assess the degree to which such a system should be automated I draw on the further issues of privacy and distance. Here I argue that the privacy of the surveilled subject can benefit from automation, while the distance between the surveilled subject and the CCTV operator introduced by automation can have both positive and negative effects. I conclude that in at least the majority of cases more automation is preferable to less within a partially automated system where this does not impinge on efficacy.

CLOSING DATE 30 SEPTEMBER 2014

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems are a growing phenomenon in most Western countries and a fixed item on security agendas in urban environments around the world. Butwhile several authors have studied the proliferation of CCTV from... more

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems are a growing phenomenon in most Western countries and a fixed item on security agendas in urban environments around the world. Butwhile several authors have studied the proliferation of CCTV from a comparative perspective, in most cases the analysis is focused at the national level, assuming that local processes are no more than the locus of implementation of national agendas. Moreover, issues related to political configurations and reconfigurations, historical factors and internal dynamics of power have seldom been tackled, and some of the assumptions about proliferation patterns in the most widely researched areas have become general assumptions. The new empirical research findings presented in this article offer a detailed and empirically evidenced account of the political and policy environment surrounding the uptake of video surveillance in Catalonia and suggests that zooming in on local processes adds complexity to the understanding of the process of CCTV proliferation at the global level. Specifically, the article addresses: the role of local/global interaction in the emergence of CCTV as a new orthodoxy, the relationship between video surveillance and economic and commercial pressures on urban restructuring, the role of party politics and political ideologies in surveillance policy, and the specific articulation of the interaction between video surveillance and urban disorder. The article ends by exploring both local narratives and global-local policy dynamics, concluding that there is a need to conduct further research on the specific ways in which CCTV policy travels through borders and between the scales of government, and the processes by which it becomes embedded in diverse geographic, political and institutional settings.

Executive Summary This is a report about camera surveillance in Canada. Although cameras have been appearing for some years in the streets, shopping malls, airports, train stations, arenas and even convenience stores and taxi‐cabs, no... more

This on line curatorship presents a selection of 11 works by Latin American artists who incorporate in their creations technologies traditionally linked to surveillance and control processes. By Surveillance Aesthetics we understand a... more

This on line curatorship presents a selection of 11 works by Latin American artists who incorporate in their creations technologies traditionally linked to surveillance and control processes. By Surveillance Aesthetics we understand a compound of artistic practices, which include the appropriation of dispositifs such as closed circuit video, webcams, satellite images, algorithms and computer vision among others, placing them within new visibility, attention and experience regimes. The term referred to in the title of this exhibition is intended more as a vector of research rather than the determination of a field, as pointed by Arlindo Machado under the term “surveillance culture”. (Machado 1991) In this sense, a Latin America Surveillance Aesthetics exhibition is a way to propose, starting from the works presented here, a myriad of questions. How and to what extent do the destinies of surveillance devices reverberate or are subverted by market, security and media logics in our soci...

On television and urban experience.

This article examines the impact of the criminalization of immigration on non-documented immigrants and the profession of social work. To meet its aims, the article explores the new realities for undocumented immigrants within the context... more

This article examines the impact of the criminalization of immigration on non-documented immigrants and the profession of social work. To meet its aims, the article explores the new realities for undocumented immigrants within the context of globalization. It then assesses the criminal justice and homeland security responses to undocumented immigrants, also referred to as the criminalization of immigration. It subsequently explores the ethical dilemmas and value discrepancies for social workers that are implicated in some of these responses. Finally, it presents implications for social workers and the social work profession.