Challenges of automated video surveillance

Abstract

Automated and semi-automated video surveillance, with facial and behavioral recognition algorithms, is generating international debates which are important to delve into without rushing to quick, but neither slow, conclusions.

Unlike other countries in America and Europe, in 2020 Argentina still does not have a national regulatory law for classic video surveillance, and the most populated district with the most cameras in the country, the Province of Buenos Aires, does not have its own integral regulatory framework either. The fragile institutional foundations that receive this advanced technology should not be overlooked if negative effects are to be avoided, not only in the protection of privacy, but also in terms of strengthening the right to security, which is the reason that legitimizes its implementation.

The main intention of this paper, framed in the field of surveillance studies and public policies, is contribute from a Social Sciences perspective to unravel some conceptual knots that, in addition to generating recurrent misunderstandings, have normative effects that collaborate in naturalizing certain practices that require further thought. Among them, we can mention the imprecise and mechanical assimilation of surveillance and security; the relative effectiveness of video surveillance systems in terms of security and judicial functions; the relationship between the rights to privacy and intimacy with public space; the links between the techno-logical and the ideo-logical; etc. These aspects will be exemplified through the case of the implementation of this technology in the City of Buenos Aires, through the documentary analysis of regulations and official documents.