Halifax Cams - Privacy Issues

Outdoor closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Privately owned cameras in public places...

Goodbye public privacy in Halifax - Hello Cops watching your every move

So much for Halifax's historic and funky downtown character. Bbecause of a few highly publicized violent crimes the Halifax Police Service has finally convinced the weaklings at City Hall to allow them to install police monitored and recorded surveillance cameras in the downtown core. It was sure as shootin' going to happen. The writing has been on the wall for years.

It's small minded, fear driven and a simplistic approach to dealing with crime. It's done to placate the masses and to give police and easy way to think they are doing something proactive. There's a great potential for police CCTV to be used as instruments of social control and there mere presence changes the character of the downtown.

We have lost rights as citizens in this move. There's been no public consultation, and there's been no public agreement that we are willing to give up our privacy in public spaces.

Boo! to the Halifax Regional Municipality
Boo! to Mayor Peter Kelly
Boo! to the Halifax Police Service
Boo! to Municipal Council

Stay tuned for the formation of Halifax's Surveillance Camera Players


Cameras

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Look around the city next time you're out - look up a little higher than normal - see what's up there.

June 2006 - the location list and map is outdated due to the steady proliferation of cameras. Between the private security guards and cameras on Spring Garden Road the place is starting to resemble a prison yard.

Here's an example of a wonderful use of a CCTV webcam .... halifaxwebcam.ca

Five Fishermen Retaurant - Cheers, etc.
1740 Argyle Street and Carmichael Street. The cameras are mounted on the side of the building and view the public sidewalks on either side of the corner. The Grafton - Connor Group seems to manage the various businesses on the block. (see August 13 newspaper article describing how this business routinely collects personal information from patrons' drivers licence and then stores it in a database)

Cheers Restaurant
1734 Grafton Street

Charles Schwab/Avis etc building
1720 Argyle. Property owned by Rector Wardens & Vestry St Pauls' Anglican Church. This building extends through the block to Grafton and bristles with cameras and antennae

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
1723 Hollis Street. This is provincial government property

Scotia Square - MTT - Aliant
Duke Street - a few globe type cameras monitor the entrances and the employee outdoor patio - a "break cam"? Better watch what you say about the boss - there might be lip readers watching you while you chat over coffee.

Maritime Centre - MTT
Why is this camera here? There's no door or driveway - it's just bare sidewalk. (followup - I contacted Fortis Properties about the cam - the property manager said it was installed in response to a tenant survey - after the photo it was beefed up to a larger bubble - maybe for pan and zoom to make it easier for the security guards to watch people?)

Maritime Centre cam

Law Courts - Spring Garden Road

Dugger's Mens Wear - Spring Garden Road

Mills Brothers - Spring Garden Road

Halifax Regional Library - Main Branch - Spring Garden Road

CBC building Sackville and South Park Streets

Nova Scotia Community College - Bell Road
2 very high bubble types - one on each of the front corners - not exactly public space but the things look like they should be on a federal penitentiary, not a school.

Queen Elizabeth High School
Sorry for the very poor picture quality

Webcams

Saint Mary's University - overlooking Huskie Stadium
The previous version was a pedestrian level, rapidly refreshing webcam

Saint Mary's University - Burke-Gaffney Observatory Live Sky Camera
The image faces west. Features in the image include the dingle tower (lower left), the Northwest Arm (water near centre bottom), apartment buildings on Cowie Hill (along left horizon).

Fenwick Place webcam
Atop a 100 metre apartment tower this camera views the mouth of Halifax Harbour and Point Pleasant Park. Operated by the Chebucto Community Net.

South Woodside Community Access Point webcam
This webcam points directly at the back of people using the public Internet terminals but appears to be offline.

CBC's Halifax Harbour webcam
A view of the Halifax waterfront from Dartmouth

Dalhousie University - University Avenue West & Henry Street
Views intersection from second floor

Nova Scotia Highway webcams

Tradewinds Realty is busy providing refreshing webcam images of Chester and Lunenburg, NS. Why they feel a need to do this is a mystery!
http://www.tradewindsrealty.com/webcam.html

Public cameras vs. right to privacy

CBC MONTREAL - Quebec's Access to Information Commission says organizations which use video surveillance cameras need to be more aware of peoples' right to privacy.
Read More ...

The Long Lens of the Law

CBC Archives - You are being watched. From street corners and roadsides, bank machines and satellites, video cameras record our every move.
Read More...

Keep in mind that there is no approval process, no permit system, no application process, no review and no control over the installation of this type of video surviellance equipment in Nova Scotia.

Anyone can install a camera in any public place and do what they want, be that viewing, recording video, using face recognition software, selling data and images, tracking the movement of private individuals or whatever else they can get away with.

Since the Halifax Police Service is keenly interested in using CCTV to monitor public streets it seems unlikley they would raise any objections related to privacy issues.

Who will speak up to protect what privacy rights remain? Will it be you?


News

November 10, 2006

"Bar-hoppers could see surveillance cameras in place at "Pizza Corner," at Blowers and Grafton streets, as soon as this weekend. A violent assault took place there Oct. 30 at 4 a.m.

In the short term, though, Chief Beazley said he could have security cameras up and running this weekend.

"It’s a possibility," he said after the mayor’s meeting. "I’ve got technical people that are working on it." The chief said quality assurance officers who work at headquarters would watch monitors late at night and the recorded images would be checked after other crimes to look for clues."

read the Chronicle Herald article

October 12, 2006

The Halifax Police Service has finally opened the door to surveillance of public streets in Halifax. In 2003 the police wrote to me they do not participate in CCTV monitoring. This is sure to change as they trade-off the privacy rights of law abiding citizens for easy-bake policing. "Supt. Moore said he didn’t know if police would advertise which areas would be getting security cameras." Check here for locations when the time comes.
read more >>

June 15, 2006

The Halifax Police Service Chief Frank Beazley told municipal council that examining the use of video tracking of activity in public places in Halifax Regional Municipality should go a long way in preventing crimes or solving them if they take place. He said other jurisdictions, such as London, England, have cameras recording the movement of pedestrians and traffic.
read more >>

May 26, 2005

This site has not been completely stagnant since December 2003. Some small updates have been done. During this period there has been a steeady increase in the number of cams around downtown Halifax. Check the map I made observing cameras in a few walks, mostly between home and work. This is without a concerted hunt for them. Almost all are privately owned and are aimed at public space. I did not record the many cameras clearly aimed at private property.

Of particular note is that the The Halifax Regional Municipality has just recently installed cameras around City Hall.

This is taxpayer funded work, and if you object please write a note to your councillor and the Mayor. Here's how to contact them.

click to enlarge

December 7, 2003

Article explaining how the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act will extend to private businesses on January 1, 2004

November 6, 2003

Response to an editorial in the local newspaper read
Privacy Commission responds to same editorial read
Original editorial

October 22/03

Town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia votes to install a police monitored camera in the downtown area. Read article from the Halifax Herald.

This is the first police monitored camera in Nova Scotia. It's likely there will be some controversy over it as there was with the Kelowna, BC issue.

This is certain to be a very hot issue in the province, and I will attempt to capture as much of it as possible.. There's a running debate in the usenet newsgroup hfx.general, after I posted a brief request for opinions on the issue. See the Antigonish page.

Nov 8/03 - Added copy of my letter to the federal Privacy Commissioner

I posted a short note in a usenet newsgroup hfx.general about the proposal to install CCTV in downtown Antigonish.

The first opinion that was posted was "If we have nothing to hide why should be be concerned about it"?, to which John Smith posted "If people have nothing to hide, then why not publish the camera data to a public web site as well. Why not let the public monitor it too. Let me guess... that would be too much of an invasion of privacy..."

August 7/ 03

There's a rumour that the Halifax Police Service has installed or is monitoring CCTV on a privately owned parking lot in metro. After the recent toppling of federal Privacy Commissioner Radwanski it's possible that Canadian police forces will try to activate experiments in CCTV to gauge public opinion. The Halifax Police have stated in the past that they support the concept. Here's the text of an email I sent:

Hello,

Does the Halifax Police Service participate in Closed Circuit Television monitoring on private or public property, other than on its own property ? Is there a recent initiative whereby the Police Service is using CCTV to monitor a privately owned parking lot?

Thanks very much,
John van Gurp
Halifax, NS

update: The Police spokesperson responded that they do not participate in CCTV monitoring of private or public property, other than on their own.

Links

CCTV in Antigonish, Nova Scotia

CCTV in public space in Vancouver

Recent abuses of CCTV - and

How cops use CCTV to watch Hot Chicks

Commercial sexploitation of CCTV

Abuse of technology - when a cop goes bad (CP article)

October 27, 2003 Halifax Herald article

Be good, somebody might be watching
Surveillance systems proliferate on downtown Halifax streets

The Surveillance Society Journal - an excellent online zine

See the Contacts page - guestbook for a report from Greta, of new public CCTV cameras:

Government guidelines to CCTV use.

Guide to Using Surveillance Cameras in Public Areas (Alberta)

Public Surveillance System Privacy Guidelines (British Columbia)

Leaflet on video surveillance by private individuals (Switzerland)

May 2003 - Article from the Halifax Herald about video surveillance in British Columbia schools.

February, 2003 discussion excerpts, from the usenet newsgroup hfx.general.

Oct 2002 - Article from the Halifax Herald discussed the debate about CCTV surveillance. Article states "..police in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax have also expressed an interest in the systems."

New York's Surveillance Camera Players
This group puts on performances in the view of CCTV in New York. Their concern is loss and invasion of privacy.

Privacy International
A international organization based in London. Its US organization is administered through the Fund for Constitutional Government in Washington DC.

Justice Gérard La Forest
Former Supreme Court Justice Gérard La Forest regarding video surveillance by the RCMP in Kelowna and video surveillance of public streets in general. Until his retirement in 1997, Justice La Forest was the Supreme Court's leading expert in privacy issues.

Spycam City
An article by Mark Boal in the Village Voice - October, 1998.

Guide to CCTV destruction
We do not endorse or condone destruction of private or public property. Such acts are illegal and might lead to criminal conviction. This link is included only to demonstrate how offensive some people find CCTV.

Zap a camera with handheld laser

Security Guard - On-line Application
Typical qualifications - high school graduate or equivalent, valid drivers license with a good driving record, willing to work rotating shifts as well as some weekends and holidays. Previous security related experience is a plus. (for humour here's a list of stupid things done by security guards)

Trakonic of Sydney. NS
Trakonic's product, is a remote video surveillance system that allows motion-triggered alarm monitoring of commercial and residential properties. The company has signed a five year, $15 million contract with Chubb Canada to sell Trakonic to security dealers and security system integrators through Chubb's regional offices in Canada. They intend to expand their offerings to include face recognition, etc.

Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Video Surveillance in Public Places
Ontario Bar Association Privacy Law Section Year End Meeting, May 27, 2002 in Toronto, Ontario

You are being Watched
A graphic for download - can be printed for application

Do you know of any webcams or outdoor CCTV cameras?

Please email a description and photo.

 

 

Note the site meter - I am watching YOU :-)