INDECT
Encyclopedia
INDECT is a research project in the area of intelligent security systems performed by several European universities since 2009 and funded by the European Union
. The project aims to automatically detect criminal threats through processing of large volumes of CCTV camera streams.
The area of research, applied methods and techniques are described in the public deliverables which are available to the public on the project's website. Practically, all information related to the research is public. Only documents that comprise information related to financial data or information that could negatively influence the competitiveness and law enforcement capabilities of parties involved in the project are not published. This follows regulations and practices applied in EU research projects.
The principle of operation of the project is detecting threats and identifying source of threats, without monitoring and searching for particular citizens or groups of citizens. Then, the system operator (i.e. police officer) decides whether an intervention of services responsible for public security are required or not. Further investigation eventually leading to persons related to threats are performed, preserving the presumption of innocence, on the basis of existing procedures already used by police services and prosecutors. As it can be found in the project deliverables, INDECT does not involve storage of personal data (such as names, addresses, identity document numbers, etc.).
As it can be seen in the project's documentation, INDECT does not involve mobile phone tracking or call interception.
The rumors about testing INDECT during 2012 UEFA European Football Championship
also turned out to be false.
The mid-term review of the Seventh Framework Programme the European Parliament strongly urges the European Commission immediately to make all documents available and to define a clear and strict mandate for the research goal, the application and the end users of INDECT and stresses a thorough investigation on the possible impacts on fundamental rights. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Paweł Kowal, MEP, the project had the ethical review on 15 March 2011 in Brussels with the participation of ethics experts from Austria, France, Holland, Germany and Great Britain. An ethical review of the project was positive and it is confirmed that there were no deficiencies related to the ethical aspects of the project.
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. The project aims to automatically detect criminal threats through processing of large volumes of CCTV camera streams.
The area of research, applied methods and techniques are described in the public deliverables which are available to the public on the project's website. Practically, all information related to the research is public. Only documents that comprise information related to financial data or information that could negatively influence the competitiveness and law enforcement capabilities of parties involved in the project are not published. This follows regulations and practices applied in EU research projects.
Application and target users
The main end-user of INDECT solutions are police forces and security services.The principle of operation of the project is detecting threats and identifying source of threats, without monitoring and searching for particular citizens or groups of citizens. Then, the system operator (i.e. police officer) decides whether an intervention of services responsible for public security are required or not. Further investigation eventually leading to persons related to threats are performed, preserving the presumption of innocence, on the basis of existing procedures already used by police services and prosecutors. As it can be found in the project deliverables, INDECT does not involve storage of personal data (such as names, addresses, identity document numbers, etc.).
Expected results
The main expected results of the INDECT project are:- Trial installation of the monitoring system for threat detection in metropolitan areas
- Devices used for mobile object tracking
- Search engine for fast detection and semantic search of documents based on watermarking technology
- System tracking criminal activity and threat detection in the Internet
- Data protection and privacy protection using watermarking technologies and cryptographic algorithms.
Controversy
Some media and other sources accuse INDECT of privacy abuse, collecting personal data, conspiracy. Consequently, these issues have been commented and discussed by some Members of the European Parliament.As it can be seen in the project's documentation, INDECT does not involve mobile phone tracking or call interception.
The rumors about testing INDECT during 2012 UEFA European Football Championship
2012 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams sanctioned by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012...
also turned out to be false.
The mid-term review of the Seventh Framework Programme the European Parliament strongly urges the European Commission immediately to make all documents available and to define a clear and strict mandate for the research goal, the application and the end users of INDECT and stresses a thorough investigation on the possible impacts on fundamental rights. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Paweł Kowal, MEP, the project had the ethical review on 15 March 2011 in Brussels with the participation of ethics experts from Austria, France, Holland, Germany and Great Britain. An ethical review of the project was positive and it is confirmed that there were no deficiencies related to the ethical aspects of the project.