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Glasgow City Council slammed over CCTV tracking technology ready to launch on 70 cameras which can track you across town
by Billy Briggs, 30 March 2016
The Daily Record
A TOTAL of 70 cameras are now able to track people in the streets of Glasgow through hi-tech surveillance. Their potential use has been branded a threat to civil liberties by politicians and consumer groups.
The Record revealed last November that the futuristic CCTV system – called Suspect Search – was tested on people putting traffic cones on the city’s Duke of Wellington statue .
It uses software that photographs people and can track them wherever they go in the city.
A Freedom of Information reply published today by investigative website The Ferret reveals that 70 CCTV cameras in Glasgow city centre can now use the software. Previously only 10 cameras had Suspect Search capability.
Glasgow City Council said in their FOI reply: “Suspect Search has now been configured on 70 cameras with the PSCCTV network. However, operational use of Suspect Search has not yet commenced.
“CCTV images are stored for 14 days then deleted unless the relevant footage is identified by police as incident footage or is the subject of a subject access request.”
The system became operational in September 2015 but is still not live.
Scottish Lib Dems justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said: “The technology is light years ahead of laws in place to ensure that the privacy of innocent people going about their businesses is secure.”
Richard Haley, of Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, said: “The delay in implementing the system suggests there are issues with privacy.”
Glasgow City Council said: “There is no confirmed date when the Suspect Search software will be put into operation. It is still going through the legal and approval process.”