City of Johannesburg under surveillance

guest · Sep 3, 2019

City of Johannesburg under surveillance
The IOC will monitor the City-owned CCTV cameras 24 hours a day, with technology like licence plate and facial recognition
May 16, 2019
https://roodepoortrecord.co.za/2019/05/16/city-of-johannesburg-under-surveillance/

For too long, the City of Johannesburg has been held hostage by muggers, hijackers and other criminals.

But, on 14 May, the City of Johannesburg launched a new team of 80 dedicated Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers, focused on combating the street crimes reported on a daily basis in the inner city.

“The IOC will monitor the City-owned CCTV cameras 24 hours a day, with technology like licence plate and facial recognition, and a speedy and effective response to any crime spotted will be of great importance,” said councillor Sun.
The Department of Public Safety is making significant progress in increasing the number of CCTV feeds to the IOC and is working directly with several stakeholders in the private sector, where privately owned CCTV cameras feeds will be monitored at the IOC.
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guest · Sep 3, 2019

Professor decries Joburg’s private surveillance networks
September 3, 2019
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/Pero37ZgoYJMQb6m/pXnWJadMba7bjO1e

A leading academic has criticised the massive rollout of private camera networks in the City of Johannesburg (COJ), saying there were no consultations and residents should have a say in what happens to their data.

The COJ alone is expected to have over 15 000 Vumacam cameras in the next 12 months, in addition to thousands more that are privately controlled.
The cameras watch every person and car that moves near them. If their algorithms pick up something strange, such as a licence plate known to be linked to crimes, the security companies that rent the data can react.

Professor Jane Duncan, an intellectual and activist at the Journalism Department at the University of Johannesburg, says ethical and legal standards are necessary and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) should apply to both cases.
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Safer society
Vumacam concedes the city should have provided some guidelines.

“We agree the COJ should have developed a CCTV surveillance policy, especially considering they and many other companies (including other private companies) have hundreds, if not thousands, of cameras up around Johannesburg,” Vumacam CEO Ricky Croock tells ITWeb.
She says many may argue that criminals aren’t going to wait around for such consultations

“But, without a proper framework, such surveillance can give rise to unintended new threats and vulnerabilities for residents. Your movements can be tracked in public spaces for reasons other than crime.”
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guest · Sep 17, 2019

Joburg says it has no policy for surveillance cameras
September 17, 2019
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/O2rQGMApYn67d1ea/pXnWJadMba7bjO1e

The City of Johannesburg has no policy in place to effectively control the private camera networks that have sprawled across SA’s commercial capital.

The confirmation by Johannesburg Metro Police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar that there is no legally enforceable policy pits the city against the Information Regulator.
The Information Regulator states it is mandatory to have a policy in place before deploying cameras.

“There is a document which JMPD, together with other stakeholders, is currently working on to create a policy, for which all CCTV, private and public, will soon have to comply with, from an ethical and legal perspective,” he says.
This is in contradiction with the responsibilities placed on those running camera networks.
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Advocate Johannes Weapond, a full-time member at the Information Regulator, told ITWeb: “A responsible party (operators) must make a data subject aware that his or her personal information is being collected, [the] purpose of the collection, whether the personal information is provided on a voluntary or mandatory basis, what are the consequences, if any, for failure to provide the requested information, and if the collection is required under a specific law.”
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guest · Oct 5, 2020

Johannesburg Road Agency loses CCTV court appeal
October 5, 2020
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/kYbe97XDrV27AWpG/pXnWJadMba7bjO1e

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has lost its bid to appeal an earlier North Gauteng High Court ruling that it cannot suspend aerial and CCTV wayleave applications.

The agency has been battling with video management company Vumacam for months over the applications, citing privacy concerns as the reason behind the failure to process the company’s applications.
The JRA insists the purpose of Vumacam’s operations “is to spy on the movements of unsuspecting citizens” and that Vumacam collects and processes personal data.

Judge Bashir Vally ruled against the agency on 20 August [...] However, the JRA sought leave to appeal from the judge, who last week dismissed the bid, saying “the case has no merits” and that there “is absolutely no prospect whatsoever of an appeal succeeding”.

The judge reasoned that: “The act of suspending the consideration of these applications is simply unlawful. The JRA has no power to refuse to do that which the law compels it to do.”
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According to Croock, the JRA and any other party with concerns around privacy can engage with Vumacam to gain “a factual understanding of our operations and the extensive lengths we go to in ensuring privacy is protected at all times.

“It is deeply concerning that the rollout of our infrastructure was halted due to factually-incorrect information on privacy being supplied to the JRA about Vumacam.”
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