Dozens of schools, kindergartens and student dormitories across Serbia have acquired video surveillance with facial recognition and detection capabilities, and although the use of such a system is not legally regulated, it also covers streets, markets, municipal buildings and public companies throughout the country, BIRN reported.
Research on that portal showed that video surveillance with facial recognition options was procured for at least 28 elementary and seven secondary schools in Serbia, as well as for one preschool institution in Belgrade.
Video surveillance systems with facial recognition capabilities were procured for student dormitories, but also for numerous public places, institutions and roads in 12 cities and municipalities across Serbia, and according to BIRN, most of such equipment was procured in Belgrade, among other things for the National Library of Serbia, markets, several parks and the Belgrade transport system.
Other public companies, such as the Agency for Local Economic Development from Leskovac, the Tax Administration, the Directorate of Civil Aviation and PUK Belgrade Waterworks and Sewerage, have also acquired equipment that enables facial recognition.
The text also states that in 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) bought and installed facial recognition cameras from the Chinese company Huawei in Belgrade, as well as that Kruševac, Paraćin, Bor and Leskovac ordered “intrusive technology” for traffic control.
BIRN also reported that, except in exceptional cases, the collection and processing of biometric data, which are collected using facial recognition technologies, is prohibited in Serbia, and that even in those cases it is mandatory to carry out an assessment of the impact on the protection of personal data.
According to the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data, Milan Marinović, the use of biometric data is necessary and necessary only in cases where it is necessary for a certain institution to perform its work, which, he adds, depends on what activity it is engaged in.
“The introduction of facial recognition technology in any other case would be excessive and pointless and represents an unnecessary invasion of an individual’s privacy. In this sense, the introduction of facial recognition technology anywhere, even in schools, requires the deepest analysis and foundation in the law, especially bearing in mind that it’s about minors,” said Marinović, reports BIRN.
The Commissioner added that children and minors are the “most sensitive category” in terms of the right to privacy, but also that video surveillance in schools, as part of physical and technical security, is regulated primarily by the Law on Private Security and the Rulebook on the Method of Performing Technical Security and Use technical means, the application of which is supervised by the Ministry of Interior, not the institution of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data.
