IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 55

is supposed they would have played
a role had they been present [14].
More rigorously designed surveys
conducted by social scientists tend
to find slightly less support for camera surveillance, and show that the
location of the surveillance [14], the
demographic group to which the
respondent belongs [7], [15], and
even the ways in which questions
are framed [7] affect the degree to
which people are willing to support
camera surveillance. These studies
also find that although about one
third of respondents will agree that
camera surveillance is a privacy
threat, for many of the 33%, it is still
seen as acceptable because of a perception that it might improve safety
or security [27].
The video surveillance landscape
in Canada differs somewhat from
that of other jurisdictions where
research has taken place. Most Canadian surveillance cameras are not
part of publicly supported infrastructures. Instead, the majority of cameras pointed at publicly accessible
spaces are commercially run and
operated. These commercial operators fall under the PIPEDA (Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) provisions
for informing individuals about the
nature of video surveillance, and the
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
of Canada has issued guidelines for
organizations using surveillance
cameras [20]. However, it seems as
though there is little compliance with
even the basic guidelines regarding
notification about the purpose of surveillance or potential uses of the personal information collected [2].
When we consider all of these
issues; rapidly evolving and potentially intrusive technologies, lack
of public awareness, and organizational non-compliance with privacy guidelines, in combination
with the principle expressed in the
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's (OPC) Guidelines for Overt Video Surveillance
[8], that individuals have "the
right to lead their lives free from

scrutiny," it raises some significant
questions. The unmitigated growth
of video surveillance, in both scope
and nature, is encroaching on any
form of reasonable control that a
data subject may have over their
personal information. The use and
possible linkage of visually identifiable information is an issue that
should concern us all.
However, does the public realize there is a need for concern? As
researchers who are fully aware of
the information policy in general
and privacy in particular, we assume
that these issues are significant. People may not know what can be done
with their captured visual images,
or what their rights are, in relation
to, personally identifiable information gathered by video surveillance
systems. Similarly, Canadians'
level of knowledge about current
video surveillance capabilities, and

of citizens in one large Canadian
urban center. To find out what Canadians know about visual surveillance
practices and technologies, we conducted semi-structured "man and
woman on the street" interviews.
The questions focused on determining what people know about the
video surveillance activities that
are capturing their personal visual
information, asking what they think
about public video surveillance, and
determining what they know about
their privacy rights regarding such
surveillance. We sought to understand the extent to which people
recognize visual information as personal information, and the degree
to which they are informed, or care
to be informed, about the practices
relating to visual information collected via video monitoring.
We conducted 156 interviews
in various urban locations where

The use and possible linkage of
visual identifiable information is
an issue that should concern us all.
the way the technology is developing in the near future remains
unclear. As information researchers and privacy advocates, we are
working to understand the policy
implications of emerging "intelligent" video surveillance, but what
we do not know is whether Canadians are concerned about these
developments. More significantly,
we do not know whether they have
enough information to develop an
informed opinion. Therefore, our
ongoing project seeks to establish
and expose more clearly the current degree of general knowledge
Canadian citizens have about video
surveillance technologies, their attitudes, and their understanding of
relevant privacy regulations.

In Situ Interviewing
Our research takes a small step in
the direction of this larger goal
exploring the opinions and concerns

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

|

SuMMEr 2014

the presence of private surveillance
cameras in a public space is somewhat obvious. The cameras are
either visible to the public or there
are notification signs posted, or a
combination of both. These sites
are in the vicinity of major intersections, public squares, and community centres. It was our hope that
by situating the conversations with
participants in sites where the cameras can be seen and discussed as
a concrete presence, people might
be encouraged to think about and
answer the questions.
We based our core questions
broadly on the OPC's March, 2008,
Guidelines for Overt Video Surveillance in the Private Sector, modified
to reflect our focus on the surveilled
rather than the surveillers:
■

Did you know that this organization
conducts
video
surveillance?
|

55



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