CCTVs and the Privacy dilemma

INDIA: Can shrubs be an intrusion? Before you answer, look up for what makes the Leylandii Law a point of discussion and even legal intervention in countries like the UK when it comes to how much height of a hedge is allowed to a neighbor so that it does not intrude upon another neighbor.

As weird as it may sound, there was indeed a special section in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 that had given local authorities in England and Wales the right to intervene and to insist that hedges are pruned, (with new updates happening in the following years).

Today, the spotlight has been drifting swiftly from shrubbery to the issue of CCTVs as the next intrusion scare.

Do you know UK has had offices like that of a surveillance camera commissioner? Well, it had to, specially with the surge of use of surveillance cameras within domestic environments. As the cost of domestic CCTV systems started moving down, there was an uptick not only in the domestic use market of CCTVs but also in the number of complaints by one neighbor upon another.

How can this sound odd – your CCTV is intruding my privacy when I am walking in my garden! That led to debates around a voluntary code however wherein user were being asked to install signs saying surveillance is in progress, and issues advice on how long they can retain footage and assigned responsibility for security of the images.

In short, CCTV use should ideally promote security but in the real world, things are not simple, or let’s say they are more ironic than they look to be.

Catch 22 Continues

A neighbor may install CCTV for watching over a sick parent or a bed-ridden spouse but what if there are concerns popping from neighbours - like of paedophilia if cameras are pointed into gardens where children play; like on using zoom lenses, or on watching domestic fights between spouses.

That, and numerous other debates, should explain why using surveillance is like walking a very very, nauseatingly tight rope. No doubt, some ongoing fiascos in retail vertical have zoomed the issue once again.

Is it easy for a vertical like retail to use surveillance for all its advantages and not cross the invisible line?

“Regarding video surveillance, I don't believe that the industry has done anything wrong. The controversy was over one incident. The industry has absolutely no practice of installing cameras in trial rooms. Theft of clothes has been effectively managed through the use of RFID tags.” Opines Sandeep Dhar, Co-founder and CEO at Stayology , and who also happens to be ex-CEO of retail major Tesco HSC.

As an interesting independent research report by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) (commissioned by Axis Communications) pointed, legacy investments in analogue video surveillance had primarily been based around loss prevention and security, where it has been difficult to measure a clear ROI and retailers have now started to realise that IP video surveillance increases the value of their investment in video.

It also made room for the concerns that surround use of CCTVs in Retail beyond the ROI boxes. It had noted that the use of video is widely accepted as an essential tool to tackle loss prevention with 91 per cent of retailers using video surveillance and given the negative public perception of CCTV in some quarters; it was interesting to note that retailers reported no negative reaction from staff or customers in the use of security cameras.

According to this report, using video surveillance to decrease theft in a retail environment has multiple benefits beyond just reduction in shrink, it is also crucial for customers to feel safe and secure and for employee’s who need to feel a sense of security in the workplace.  This can only serve to improve the overall customer experience and foster a more desirable workplace environment, achieving long term benefits for retailers in terms of employee retention and customer loyalty; and also according to the report, almost 70 per cent of retailers cited better evidence material as a major benefit of using CCTV.

The report entitled ‘Retail use and experience of CCTV in the UK’ was based on the opinions of 363 respondents, ranging from single-store retailers to those with more than 400 outlets with 60 per cent being non-food retailers, 40 per cent as food retailers. Professor Joshua Bamfield from the CRR noted, “Retailers clearly see the benefits of video surveillance as both a deterrent and incident investigation tool, with more than two thirds of respondents reporting theft had fallen as a result of video surveillance."

So, advantages of using surveillance are manifold if this assessment is pointing it right. A retailer can measure store performance when a network based people counter provides instant access to real time and historic customer traffic data. Retailers can measure traffic levels on an hourly basis across multiple stores to gauge store performance, evaluate the success of promotional campaigns and improve customer service by optimising staff deployment to match customer traffic.

They can evaluate display strategies by gathering visual intelligence on customer behaviour is crucial to optimising sales; or statistics relating to customer dwell time of in store advertising or digital signage and track customer flow; or intelligence on customer response to end caps, displays and promotions, allows retailers to optimise display and marketing strategies and drive sales and to immediately evaluate the impact of floor change layouts on customer flow and sales, by combining mapped traffic patterns with POS data; as per what CRR study distilled.

The report talked of an additional benefit which is video observation of customer interactions with different displays or product placements, to visually analyze factors that affect a customers purchasing decision. It said that with anywhere, anytime access to a network video system, retailers can gain valuable business insights into consumer and store activity to streamline operational processes and improve customer responsiveness, specially with the inherent benefit of network video with its the ability to gain authorised access to live or recorded video from any network location – including HQ, regional offices or even via mobile devices.

According to that survey overall 68 per cent of UK retailers required access to video both in store and remotely, a view expressed more strongly by large retailers with 81 per cent of retail chains with 100 stores or more requiring remote access to video.

It also highlighted an employee issue. Lone workers operating in retail outlets are more vulnerable to threats and physical assaults than others in the work force, with extended trading hours increasing the exposure to risk. An in-store network based video system invested in for loss prevention, could simultaneously provide instant video verification of a panic alarm to any networked or mobile device, thereby strengthening a retailers duty of care to their employee’s and reinforcing compliance.

More uses than risks, it turns out. But is that always the case?

Let’s turn a glance to how education, another safety-oriented vertical (specially with the recent surge of child-related crimes in and around schools); is using the CCTV edge to its possibilities. And whether they too walk a thin line of concern somewhere, like retailers do?

Atheeque, Admin Director, Deens International School experimented with a student-safety concept in 2006 and had another solution earlier for co-ordinating with bus drivers. He embraced a tracking solution supported by CCTV surveillance in buses, as he strongly felt that today’s environment needs as much monitoring as operations and technology can allow.

“The unfortunate death of an eight-year old girl in Bangalore who came under the rear wheel of a school bus had put the safety of children into spotlight in a new way. The safety of a child right from entering into the school bus to the school premises, and again back home, is a big question and concern. We can understand that parents are in the constant worry as to when their child will get home, whether they have got on the bus safely, how reliable are the bus drivers? Which route will be safe? What if they reach the bus stop late? These are just some of the worries parents go through.” He had remarked earlier while talking about the solution.

Today the system, he tells is working well and was soon equipped with a smart card system that sends a sms to their parents as soon as they board or get off the bus.

No user resistance or employee issues whatsoever? We ask him again today and he explains how parents are quite happy that these installations have been done. “So far no incident has occurred but we are assured that if ever a complaint or doubt about mistreating a child or any other safety issue comes up, the system will allow tracing it to the culprit well. It serves as a strong deterrent and that’s why the staff is also happy for they know that the real culprits can be picked out easily if ever something comes up.” The 1 TB storage of hard disk is capable of helping with data archival for 30 to 45 days and the school is functioning smoothly on the usage of this system.

A look at some recent adoption examples iterate the advantages that surveillance strongly brings to the table.

Media reports point that the Karnataka Government may be giving MLAs permission to spend funds to install CCTV cameras; and this might have to do something with the sudden rise in crime rate and failure of law and order in urban areas. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje seems also keen on instilling transparency in functioning of the policemen, with CCTVs to be installed in 234 police stations in the state. There is a drive in Karnataka to enourage CCTVs at schools, and there was even an order from the government making it mandatory for schools to have CCTVs to be chosen as centres for SSLC examination. In a latest update, the Pune railway station is all set to get a high-tech surveillance system for better security and 24/7monitoring of its premises and the Integrated Security System, proposed for 202 important stations in the entire railway network for real-time security updates, continues to progress.

Why just schools or police or railway stations or banks? Word is around that cockpits too may see more eyes drilling inside with use of CCTV and if the likes of Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) in Malaysia are discussing the possibility of installing video recorders inside aircraft cockpits to boost safety and improve investigations into accidents; then CCTVs are going to be penetrating our lives more than ever.

If figures from 6Wresearch are anything to go by, the India Video Surveillance market was slated to reach $952.94 million by 2016, with a CAGR of 32.49% between 2011-2016. This covers Cameras (Analog and IP), DVR/NVR, Encoders/Decoders, Software, Verticals (Government and Transportation, Banking & Financial, Retail, Industrial, Commercial and Residential), Regions (North India, South India, East India, West India and Central India). The forecast highlighted that the need for intelligent security systems, increasing terrorist strikes, dwelling infrastructure, rising criminal activities are the few factors that have resulted for the demand for reliable and intelligent security systems in India.

“The advantages of surveillance systems over physical security such as ability to allow remote monitoring, etc has resulted for their wide deployment across India. Traditionally controlled by analog based surveillance systems, the Indian market is now shifting towards digitized i.e. IP based surveillance systems. These surveillance systems are finding its space in across industry verticals, namely, government & transportation, banking & financial, retail, commercial, industrial and residential. “ it stated.

Technology’s use it seems is growing, but is also inherently dependent in the users’ hands. That does not swipe away the neighbor vs. neighbor question though.

Is there a way to ensure that surveillance technologies do what they are supposed to and not something else? Read on to the second part to find out how.