Surveillance camera management can not be followed

According to the Voice of Economy "Yangguang Finance Review," the number of surveillance cameras in China has increased by 20% every year. The installation and management of public cameras is in an embarrassing situation that cannot be followed.

The forthcoming August issue of China Weekly will introduce the cover story "China Under the Camera." It tells us not to think that law enforcement cameras are in the hands of law enforcement. Behind the electronic eye on the road, it is not necessarily that the traffic police is determining who is in violation of the rules. In many places, the staff of some private companies are acknowledging violations. In the past 10 years, cameras have increasingly broken into our world.

The survey company IMS, which focuses on electronic product surveys, expects the number of surveillance cameras in China to increase at a rate of 20% per year. People living in the city are no strangers to the electronic eyes in public places. These quiet eyes stayed in the corner and watched everyone's every move. In many people's eyes, the electronic eye first plays a deterrent effect. With it, you can give the criminals more warnings. In addition, what makes people feel most convenient and useful is its recording role. If you encounter an unexpected situation in a public place, the scene recorded by the camera is the best evidence. The camera is a witness who cannot speak. Therefore, the electronic eye not only symbolizes majesty, but also has fairly high fairness.

But what you and I can't imagine is that some places have outsourced their electronic eyes while also outsourcing their law enforcement powers. Now electronic eye outsourcing has almost become the norm. We have tens of millions of cameras, but there are no unified laws governing the installation and use of surveillance cameras. There is only a "method" set by the local authorities. In many cities, the government has outsourced road electronic eye work to private companies and outsourced the traffic police's enforcement powers. The electronic eyes that are almost everywhere in big cities exist to protect public safety and public order. It is inevitable to sacrifice certain privacy for safety and order. The key is who controls the privacy of the public and who is used by them? The electronic eye monitors us, so who will monitor the electronic eye?

Commentator Xu Yilong, deputy chief editor of "China Weekly" commented on this.

The August issue of China Weekly is about to publish the cover story "China Under the Camera." This group of reports focuses on the electronic eyes that are closely related to each of us. The first thing we want to ask is why we are concerned about the phenomenon that the electronic eye symbolizing public power has been outsourced to enterprises. Electronic eye outsourcing, outsourcing of law enforcement rights, what are the hidden dangers?

Xu Yilong: In fact, the cover of this group focuses on the choice of personal power and public safety. It is obviously a very inappropriate behavior to outsource the electronic eye to the enterprise. In the past, it happened that Guangdong Panyu was outsourced to the enterprise due to the electronic eye project, which led to violation of the vehicle owner’s information and caused a large amount of late fees. Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau has also issued a policy that electronic eye outsourcing is strictly prohibited. Therefore, electronic eye outsourcing is undoubtedly a violation of the law.

This outsourcing has been banned in Guangdong, but it still exists in various places. Why is there such a trend of flooding?

Xu Yilong: Because we do not have a unified law, there are no clear rules in some places.

As technology advances, cameras have become more and more popular. In addition to the government's installation, enterprises and institutions are also installed, and the popularity of smartphones has given everyone a camera in their hands. "There are pictures and truths" can no longer satisfy people's eyes. The new rules of the rivers and lakes are that there are videos with truth. However, from the point of view of the use and management of electronic eyes, technological progress has not progressed with the advancement of laws and cultures. We have never had a unified law to regulate the use of electronic eyes. What problem does this phenomenon reflect?

Xu Yilong: Legislation is also a kind of resource. Any resource is limited, it is impossible to cover all issues, and it is impossible to solve all problems at the same time. Therefore, there is a problem that the pre-existence and post-emphasis are heavy. However, the current state of the electronic eye is that it has been widely installed in the streets. While assuring security, it may also infringe our privacy rights and it has indeed happened. Uniform legislation on the electronic eye should be a more prioritized legislative issue.

At present, all these cameras in the streets and lanes cannot be imagined by anyone. There is not even a single law that strictly controls and manages it. There may be some problems in interest. In the past 10 years, under the support of government projects such as “Safe City”, surveillance equipment quickly became a big business. In the 12th Five-Year Development Plan for the Security Industry, the total output value of this industry by 2015 will reach 500 billion yuan, of which the output value of the video surveillance system will be 110 billion yuan. The business brought by the broad prospects can easily obscure the management's attention. So, how to establish a rational understanding of the electronic eye and the public power it has?

Xu Yilong: The electronic eye is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, its role in public safety is indeed very large. There is a word called "Chinese style crossing the road," which means that Chinese pedestrians ignore the traffic lights and walk through the streets. If there are no electronic eyes, it is very likely that cars will also have "Chinese style crossings." It would be terrible. On the other hand, the technology of the electronic eye is too advanced. Now the new electronic eye project requires high-definition, shoot more and more detailed, and the authority must have the awareness of protecting the privacy of others.

One of the direct consequences of electronic eye outsourcing is that employees who monitor traffic violation information may not report illegal video screenshots to the police, remove them within a certain scope of authority, and may perform information on specific vehicles in the system. "Shielding", even if the vehicle is in violation of the rules, will not display the license plate number at the time of entry. What kind of solutions should be adopted to solve the problems caused by outsourcing?

Xu Yilong: In fact, there are ways in various places, but the effectiveness of the measures is far lower than that of the law, and the efficiency of these methods is very low. What's worse, we do not have an open and transparent policy.