The dramatic rise in live feeds, online activity and general surveillance - in both public and private spheres - is generating a rapidly growing volume of video captured by CCTV cameras, smartphones, dash cams and body-worn cameras - to name a few.
This article will cover some of the video privacy trends and challenges we may expect to see over the coming year and how businesses can stay ahead of the curve.
Increase in Video Capture and Usage for Commercial Gain and Security
Increase in Live Video Analytics by the Public and Private Sector
We will undoubtedly see a rise in live video capturing for safety and accountability. Seven US states now mandate body-worn cameras for police officers, and they are also common practice with UK police. Several other industries such as transport, retail and healthcare have also had an increased rollout.
In parallel, both public and private organizations are turning more towards video analytics, as they can be useful in many different contexts; they can help in saving time for CCTV camera operators, help efficiency in monitoring places for crime and can be integrated into other systems – such as counting footfall at different locations – as well as use for smart parking, automatic license plate recognition and facial recognition.
Video analytics will also start to be used to help tackle issues like operator fatigue by streamlining and automating the process of monitoring, categorizing and tracking people and vehicles in different locations, ultimately saving businesses a lot of time and money. We are seeing continued improvement and sophistication of these systems and expect their use will become a lot more common.
More Personal Video Surveillance
In 2022, we can expect to see further growth in consumers investing in personal video surveillance for their homes. With the pandemic forcing many to stay at home, home security has become more of a priority. Ring, which produces doorbell cameras, is increasingly popular: they are now the US’s largest corporate-owned civilian-installed surveillance network.
The Growing Use of Facial Recognition
While the privacy and human rights issues surrounding facial recognition remain heavily discussed, we can expect its use to become a lot more ubiquitous, but with concurrent pushes for regulation. Countries like China have already incorporated heavy use of facial recognition technology. In the West, particularly in smart cities, it is being adopted in different areas; namely, in airports, retail stores, hospitals, the workplace and verifying identities online. The police in the UK have also been trialing facial recognition AI for “predictive policing” to tackle crime and use these video analytics for intelligence gathering.
From a privacy perspective, the public remains skeptical of facial recognition and the normalization of surveillance. There are concerns about how people’s biometric data is stored and shared and fears of the technology being misused. Many also want its use limited except in certain circumstances where there are safeguards and/or the ability to opt out.
2) Company’s Attitudes Towards Privacy Are Shifting
Increased Risk of Cyber-Threats and Compromised Data
Last October, it was recorded that the number of data breaches in 2021 exceeded that of 2020 by 17%.
One low-cost solution companies will continue to use is cloud computing and encrypted systems to secure and back up their infrastructure as much as possible, particularly as data is transferred across borders.
Attitudes towards security methods for securing data are changing, with it no longer being a simple check-box exercise but important for brand reputation and marketing purposes. Investing more money and effort into securing data privacy and weighing out the benefits of data localization will become more commonplace for businesses when trying to keep customer data secure.
Companies Waking up to the Importance of Data Privacy
Recent statistics from CISCO have shown that over 50% of consumers would switch to companies they believe have better policies around handling data.
Consumers want greater trust and transparency from the businesses they engage with, leading to companies changing the way that their internal and external practices deal with and manage personal data.
Privacy is no longer about compliance and has more to do with business reputation and trust – and customers and employees are becoming more cognizant of this.
3) Prepare to See More Data Protection Laws to Ensure Video Privacy
Increased Litigation and Fines
With laws like GDPR being established for several years now, there will be mounting pressure on data protection authorities (DPAs) to enforce law and sanction organizations found in breach. As a result, we expect to see more court cases and fines handed out over breaches of data privacy laws.
More Pressure on Legislators to Respond Properly to Video Management
By 2023, some data privacy regulations will cover 75% of the world’s population, and it remains high on the priority list for lawmakers.
Several US states have introduced their own data privacy laws, and there are movements towards federal level protection. It seems likely that other countries will begin to feel the pressure and start implementing their own legislation to enable free transfer with trading countries that already have a data protection regime. The continual rise in popularity of processing data for video analytics, along with the rapid growth in AI development and usage, means that legislation worldwide will need to keep evolving while still allowing companies to innovate.