Lawmaker suspects CCTV cameras of having ‘social control’ purpose

Lawmaker Au Kam San is concerned that information captured by CCTV surveillance cameras will be used for the purposes of “social control.”
In his interpellation to the government, Au was preoccupied with the possibility for the abuse of information provided by surveillance cameras’ facial recognition functions. He said that this possibility existed precisely because of the absence of laws designed to specifically address such technology.
He asked whether this information will be used for “social control” instead of being used to maintain security within the society.
Macau’s surveillance law only addresses the collection and processing of fixed cameras or other similar systems, and only prescribes regulations for images and sounds recorded in real-time by closed-circuit video and photographic systems. The law clearly states that the collection of images and sounds shall be limited to the fulfilment of legal purposes.
The Macau government said that the use of facial recognition in CCTV surveillance camera footage is in accordance with the law. However, Au pointed out that the facial recognition function has no law expressly governing its use at the current stage.
Au pointed out that the security authority does not need to report its use to the personal data protection office, meaning that the security authority will not be subjected to the personal data protection law for using data obtained from facial recognition systems.
In Au’s opinion, the law only restricts the collection of images and sounds from the CCTV surveillance cameras, but does not regulate data obtained through image analysis – in this case, the facial recognition function.
Au also questioned the local government authority as to whether it will transfer any captured information to mainland China. JZ