VIDEO SURVEILLANCE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: HOW DOES IT AFFECT PRIVACY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS?

  • Carmen Oana Mihăilă
  • Mircea Mihăilă
Keywords: video surveillance, facial recognition technology, Artificial Intelligence, intellectual property, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Abstract


The protection of individual privacy is increasingly questioned in the context of today's high-tech video surveillance by using superior technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (smart cameras and video surveillance systems, biometrics and facial recognition) which is capable of analyzing a huge amount of data, identifying links between these data and de-anonymizing them. Technology is synonymous with evolution. Yet, the advantages of using new technology are combined with great risks. The use of video cameras for surveillance raises important privacy issues. Biometric remote identification can only be performed under certain safeguards, in the context of a justified interest and with respect for the principle of proportionality. In recent years, facial recognition technology has become increasingly widespread, and highly controversial, as it is omnipresent (at airport check-in lines, police departments, pharmacies, etc.). While it may add a sense of security and comfort for businesses implementing it, such technology has been widely criticized by privacy advocates, especially for its built-in racial bias and potential for abusive use. "Real-time" biometric identification of individuals in public-accessible spaces for law enforcement purposes is seen as highly intrusive on the rights and freedoms of the individuals concerned, but it also evokes a sense of constant surveillance and indirectly discourages the exercise of freedom of assembly and other fundamental rights. Another important issue is the use of video surveillance in a context where it can cause problems in terms of intellectual property. The unauthorized use of recordings may affect confidential business operations. Trade secrets and confidential information are often an essential part of a company's intellectual property portfolio. Thus, companies have to take extra steps to ensure that images captured by cameras are stored securely and accessible only to authorized personnel. Cameras can capture images of artistic works, performances, exhibitions, and uncontrolled access can lead to infringement of copyright and related rights. As captured videos can be uploaded to platforms, such use of intellectual property can lead to copyright infringement, especially when the video entails the use of copyrighted material without the owner's permission, which constitutes an infringement of intellectual property rights.

References

Bălan, I. (2015). Dreptul la respectarea vieţii private și supravegherea video, audio sau prin fotografiere
Partea a II-a. Pandectele Române 8: 63-93.
Brkan, M. (2019). The Essence of the Fundamental Rights to Privacy and Data Protection: Finding the Way Through the Maze of the CJEU’s Constitutional Reasoning. German Law Journal, 20(6). 864-883.
Browne, S. (2015). Dark Matters: on the Surveillance of Blackness, Duke University Press, Durham, 10.
Buolamwini, J., Ordóñez V., Morgenstern J., Learned-Mill E. (2020). Facial Recognition Technologies: A Primer, Algorithmic Justice League/Mc Arthur Foundation, 29 May 2020, 2-6; https://global-uploads.webflow.com/5e027ca188c99e3515b404b7/5ed1002058516c11edc66a14_FRTsPrimerMay2020.pdf
Buolamwini, J., Gebru, T. (2018). Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification, Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 81, 1-15. http://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/buolamwini18a/buolamwini18a.pdf
De Gregorio, G. (2022). Digital Constitutionalism, Privacy and Data Protection, in Digital Constitutionalism in Europe: Reframing Rights and Powers in the Algorithmic Society (2022). Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy, 216, 217. Cambridge University Press; doi:10.1017/9781009071215.007
Feldstein, S. (2019). The Global Expansion of AI Surveillance, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sept. 1019, 16, https://carnegieendowment.org/files/WP-Feldstein-AISurveillance_final1.pdf
Lascateu, C. (2020). Culegerea de informații de securitate națională în era digitală – dimensiunea etică, Revista Universul Juridic (3), March, 66.
Manescu, D. (2020). Viaţa privată, datele personale şi dreptul la informare, provocări ale zilelor noastre, in Pandectele Române (3), 102-114.
Mishara, B.L., Bardon, C., Dupont, S. (2016). Can CCTV identify people in public transit stations who are at risk of attempting suicide? An analysis of CCTV video recordings of attempters and a comparative investigation, BMC Public Health, 16(1):1245, 15 Dec. 2016 Dec; DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3888-x.
Onufreiciuc, R. (2020). Protecția datelor și recunoașterea facială automată: avem dreptul de a rămâne fără (un) chip?, Studii si cercetari juridice europene, 95-103.
Paal, B.P. (2022). Artificial Intelligence as a Challenge for Data Protection Law And Vice Versa, In: Voeneky S., Kellmeyer P., Mueller O., Burgard W. (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Responsible Artificial Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Cambridge Law Handbooks., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 290, 297, doi:10.1017/9781009207898.023.
Șandru, D.M. (2019). Unele consideraţii cu privire la relaţia dintre protecţia datelor (în special Regulamentul general privind protecţia datelor) şi proprietatea intelectuală. Revista Română de Drept European (Comunitar) 3: 21-31.
Thome, B., Shamma D.A,, Friedland G., Elizalde B., Ni K., Poland D., Borth D., Li L-J. (2016). YFCC100M: The New Data in Multimedia Research, Communications of the ACM, vol.59, no.2, 2016; https://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.01817v2.pdf; https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2812802; (accessed 22 March 2023)
Wallace N., Castro D. (2018). The Impact of the EU’s New Data Protection Regulation on AI, Centre for Data Innovation Policy Brief, 27 March 2018, 14, Retrieved 30 March 2023 from https://www2.datainnovation.org/2018-impact-gdpr-ai.pdf
Legal documents
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party/WP (2005). Working document on data protection issues related to intellectual property rights, 18 January 2005, WP 104 (Working Party set up under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC), Directorate E (Services, Copyright, Industrial Property and Data Protection) of the European Commission, Internal Market Directorate-General, Brussels, 2005; Retrieved 26 March 2023 from https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2005/wp104_en.pdf
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party/WP (2012a), Opinion 02/2012 on facial recognition in online and mobile services, 00727/12/EN, WP 192, Brussels, 22 March 2012, p.2, https://www.pdpjournals.com/docs/87998.pdf; https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/documentation/opinion-recommendation/files/2012/wp192_en.pdf
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party/WP (2012b). Opinion 3/2012 on developments in biometric technologies, 00720/12/EN, WP 193, Brussels, 27 April 2012, https://www.pdpjournals.com/docs/87998.pdf
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party/WP (2014): Opinion 06/2014 on the notion of legitimate interests of the data controller under Article 7 of Directive 95/46/EC, WP 217, 9 April 2014; Retrieved 27 March 2023 from https://cnpd.public.lu/dam-assets/fr/publications/groupe-art29/wp217_en.pdf
Council of Europe/CoE (2018). Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (108/1981), No. 223, Strasbourg, 10.10.2018; https://rm.coe.int/16808ac918
Council of Europe/CoE (2021). Convention 108: Guidelines on Facial Recognition”, T-PD(2020)03rev4, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Consultative Committee of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, 28 Jan.2021, https://rm.coe.int/guidelines-on-facial-recognition/1680a134f3; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0066
Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights (2022).Guide on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights Right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence, 31 August 2022, Retrieved 7 March 2023 from https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/guide_art_8_eng.pdf
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU), Official Journal of the European Communities C 2000/C 364/01); https://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf
The Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, the Council of the European Union, (OJ L 190, 18.7.2002, p. 1); https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32002F0584
Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA, Official Journal of the EU, L.119/89, 4.5.2016; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680
Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC; PE/51/2019/REV/1; OJ L 130, 17.5.2019, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019L0790
European Commission (2018a). Artificial Intelligence for Europe, Communication from the Commission COM(2018) 237, Brussels, 25.4.2018; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A237%3AFIN
European Commission (2018b). Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence, Communication from the Commission to the E.Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2018)795, Brussels, 7.12.2018; Retrieved 20 March 2023 from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52018DC0795
European Commission (2019). High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence: “Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI”, 8 April 2019, 46; https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai
European Commission (2020a). A European strategy for data, Communication from the Commission to the EP, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2020)66, Brussels, 19.02.2020; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0066
European Commission (2020b). White Paper on Artificial Intelligence - A European approach to excellence and trust, COM(2020)65, Brussels, 19.2.2020; Retrieved 20 March 2023 https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2020-02/commission-white-paper-artificial-intelligence-feb2020_en.pdf
European Court of Human Rights/ECtHR (2020). Guide to the Case-Law of the of the European Court of Human Rights, Data protection, 31 August 2022, (p.86), https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/Guide_Data_protection_ENG
European Data Protection Board/EDPB (2020): Guidelines 3/2019 on processing of personal data through video devices, 29 Jan. 2020.https://edpb.europa.eu/sites/default/files/files/file1/edpb_guidelines_201903_video_devices.pdf
European Parliament/European Council (2021): Proposal for Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts, Brussels, 21.4.2021, COM(2021)/0106(COD)/206; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A52021PC0206
European Parliament Resolution of the European Parlaiment of 25 March 2021 on a European strategy for data (2020/2217(INI)/(2021/C 494/04), Official Journal EU, C 494/37, 8.12.2021; Retrieved 20 March 2023 from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2021.494.01.0037.01.ENG
European Parliament (2021). Regulating facial recognition in the EU, by T.Madiega and H.Mildebrath, European Parliamentary Research Service/EPRS, September 2021, Retrieved 20 March 2023 from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2021/698021/EPRS_IDA(2021)698021_EN.pdf
FRA/EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (2019). Facial recognition technology: fundamental rights considerations in the context of law enforcement, Retrieved 20 March 2023 from https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2019-facial-recognition-technology-focus-paper-1_en.pdf
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR), JO L 119, 4.5.2016; https://gdpr-info.eu
OHCHR/Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2023). Call for inputs: The relationship between human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies - Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 30 June 2023; https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/call-inputs-relationship-between-human-rights-and-technical-standard-setting
Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No.45/2001 and Decision No.1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, (39-98); https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32018R1725
UN Human Rights Council (HRC): Resolution A/HRC/44/L.11 on "The Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development", 13 July 2020; https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G20/178/26/PDF/G2017826.pdf?OpenElement
UN Human Rights Council (HRC): Resolution 47/23 on "New and Emerging Digital Technologies and Human Rights",13 July 2021, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G21/192/18/PDF/G2119218.pdf?OpenElement
Romanian Law 333/2003 on the protection of objectives, goods, values and persons, with subsequent additions and amendments, Official Gazette of Romania, no.189/18 March 2014; https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/156432
Romanian Law no.190/2018 on measures to implement Regulation (EU)2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repeal of Directive 95/46/CE(GDPR), Official Gazette no.651/2018; https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/203151
Romanian Law no. 363/2018 on the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of personal data by the competent authorities for the purpose of prevention, discovery, investigation, prosecution and combating of crimes or the execution of punishments, educational and safety measures, as well as regarding the free circulation of these data, Official Gazette no. 13/7 January 2019, https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/209627
Government Decision no. 301 of 11 April 2012 on the approval of the Methodological Norms for the application of Law no. 333/2003, Official Gazette no. 335/17 May 2012, https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/138059
Decision no. 174 of 18 October 2018 on the list of operations for which a personal data protection impact assessment is obligatory, National Supervisory Authority for the Processing of Personal Data, Official Gazette no. 918/ 2018, https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/206331
Case law
Court of Justice of the European Union/CJEU case: Volker und Markus Schecke GbR and Hartmut Eifert Joined cases C-92/09 and C-93/09, Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 November 2010, par. 48.
CJEU case: Volker und Markus Schecke and Eifert GbR and Hartmut Eifert, joined cases C-92/09 and C-93/09, Opinion of Advocate General Sharpston, 17 June 2010, para. 71).
CJEU case: Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Others and Kärntner Landesregierung and Others, joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, Judgment (Grand Chamber), 8 April 2014).
CJEU case: Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner, Request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court (Ireland). C-362/14, Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 6 October 2015, para. 94).
ECtHR case: S. and Marper v. the United Kingdom, Appl. no 30562/04, Strasbourg, December 2008, para.103).
ECtHR case: Gaughran v. the United Kingdom, Appl.no 45245/15, Judgment 13.02.2020, Strasbourg, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22002-12731%22]}; accessed on 5 March 2023
ECtHR case: Antović and Mirković v. Montenegro, Application no 70838/13 Judgment 28 November 2017.
ECtHR case: Bărbulescu v. Romania Application no 61496/08, Judgment 5 September 2017.
ECtHR, Peck v. the United Kingdom, Application no 44647/98, Judgment 28 January 2003;
ECtHR Factsheet (2022). Personal data protection, December 2022, https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/fs_data_eng
Online sources
Article 19/Free Word Center (2021). Emotional Entanglement: China's emotion recognition market and its implications for human rights, Jan.2021, Retrieved 31 March 2023; https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ER-Tech-China-Report.pdf
Axios: Hart, K. (2019). Baltimore Wrestles With Aerial Surveillance, Axios, 31 July 2019; (accessed 30 March 2023) https://www.axios.com/2019/07/31/baltimore-wrestles-with-aerial-surveillance-to-reduce-crime
BBC (2020). Coronavirus: Russia uses facial recognition to tackle Covid-19, 4 April 2020; https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-52157131
CNN Business: Metz, R. (2020): Portland passes broadest facial recognition ban in the US, by R. Metz, 9 September 2020, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/tech/portland-facial-recognition-ban/index.html
Deloitte (2021). Urban Future With a Purpose; https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/legacy/docs/perspectives/2022/deloitte-urban-future-with-a-purpose-study-set2021.pdf (accessed 30 March 2023)
European Commission (2018). Smart lie-detection system to tighten EU’s busy borders (press release), 24 October 2018;
https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/projects/success-stories/all/smart-lie-detection-system-tighten-eus-busy-borders
European Parliament (2021). Digital technologies as a means of repression and social control, by D.Głowacka, R.Youngs, A. Pintea, E.Wołosik, Directorate-General for External Policies of the EU, 2021, 17, Retrieved 31 March 2023 from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/653636/EXPO_STU(2021)653636_EN.pdf
MarketsandMarkets (2023). Video Surveillance Industry worth $83.3 billion by 2028, Press release, https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/global-video-surveillance-market.asp
The New York Times: Conger, K.,Fausset, R. Kovaleski, S.F. (2019). San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Technology, 14 May 2019; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/facial-recognition-ban-san-francisco.html
The New York Times: Hill, K., Krolik, A. (2019). How Photos of Your Kids Are Powering Surveillance Technology, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/11/technology/flickr-facial-recognition.html
Poliția Româna (2021). Proiectul “Dezvoltarea sistemului de identificare și recunoaștere facială (nbis) și interconectarea acestuia cu autoritățile de aplicare a legii din ue prin intermediul stesta” (Project: Development of facial identification and recognition system (NBIS) and its interconnection with EU law enforcement authorities through sTESTA), 25 Nov. 2021; https://www.politiaromana.ro/ro/comunicate/proiectul-dezvoltarea-sistemului-de-identificare-si-recunoastere-faciala-nbis-si-interconectarea-acestuia-cu-autoritatile-de-aplicare-a-legii-din-ue-prin-intermediul-stesta
Portland.gov (2020). City Council approves ordinances banning use of face recognition technologies by City of Portland bureaus and by private entities in public spaces, 9 September 2020, Retrieved 31 March 2023 from https://www.portland.gov/smart-city-pdx/news/2020/9/9/city-council-approves-ordinances-banning-use-face-recognition
SmartCitiesDive: Teale, C. (2018). Report: Smart city technology could dramatically improve quality-of-life indicators, by C.Teale, 12 June 2018, https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/smart-city-technology-quality-of-life/525495/
Security Boulevard: Zola, A. (2020). AI Surveillance in a Post-Pandemic World, by A. Zola, Security Bloggers Network, 10 June 2020, https://securityboulevard.com/2020/06/ai-surveillance-in-a-post-pandemic-world/
TechTarget (2020). Smart City; July 2020; https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/smart-city (access 30 March 2023).
US Congress (2019):Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act of 2019, S.847 - 116th Congress (2019-2020), March 2019; https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/847
The Verge: Vincent, J. (2020). France is using AI to check whether people are wearing masks on public transport, by J. Vincent, 7 May 2020, https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/7/21250357/france-masks-public-transport-mandatory-ai-surveillance-camera-software
Published
2023/12/27
Section
Original Scientific Paper