Piratenpartij en STIP decorate security cameras

Piratenpartij en STIP decorate security cameras

On George Orwell’s birthday, the Piratenpartij and Stip decorated dozens of cameras in Delft neighbourhoods last Saturday.

The Delft parties are critical of the use of camera surveillance by the police, municipality and private parties. They say the use of camera surveillance is almost by definition an invasion of people’s privacy. Yet the number of cameras in public spaces is growing. “When the municipality or the police place cameras, this must meet many requirements. For example, the usefulness, necessity and proportionality must be demonstrated, the retention period must be limited and access must be properly secured,” explains Daylam Dag from Stip.

^{Several security cameras are also installed on the TU Delft campus. (Photo: Piratenpartij and Stip)}

Doorbell camera
For citizens, these rules do not apply. For example, the popular doorbell cameras are often illegally aimed at the public road and all data is owned by large manufacturers such as Amazon (Ring) and Google (Nest). These and other types of cameras are also often easy to hack, the campaigners warn. “This sometimes creates images of yourself that you as an individual are not happy with. This unsolicited publicity can turn people’s lives upside down for good,” says Geert-Jan of the Pirate Party.

“Many people have no problem with camera surveillance being widely used. They say: ‘I have nothing to hide anyway’. But people should be aware that the data from almost all cameras can be used for facial recognition software and processing biometric data such as race, gender, height, age or emotional state. Their data can be used to create profiles to recognise other people.” (MvdV)