Lawyer on the draft law on video monitoring: it introduces totalitarian control and creates a risk of data leakage

Ukraine may introduce video monitoring that will monitor citizens and identify them. Such innovations are envisaged by the draft law No. 11031 on a unified system of video monitoring of public security, which has already been included in the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada. Iryna Korzhenkova, a lawyer and analyst at the Center for Joint Action, explained to UNN what threats this draft law poses and how it dangerously expands the influence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on society.

What does the draft law on a unified system of video monitoring of public security change?

• introduces a system of video monitoring of public security;

Video monitoring will be applied to:

- individuals in the interests of national and public security, economic well-being and human rights;

- vehicles;

- public places;

- critical, social, economic, housing and communal, transportation, engineering, and other infrastructure facilities;

•  introduces a unified system of video monitoring of public security, which consists of monitoring systems at the central, regional and local levels, as well as video monitoring systems of enterprises, institutions, organizations of all forms of ownership and systems of individuals;

• security and defense agencies, state authorities and local governments are authorized to create video monitoring systems;

•  the video monitoring system consists of devices with photo, audio, and video recording functions that operate in automatic mode, and complexes that process, analyze, and transmit the collected data to the MIA system;

•  obliges all owners of video monitoring systems to transmit data to the MIA system;

•  the video monitoring system identifies a person by the following parameters:

- full name, date of birth, place of birth, gender;

- information about the place of residence, citizenship or lack thereof,

- a digitized image of a person's face;

- registration number of the taxpayer's account card or series and number of the passport document;

• To identify a person, the video monitoring system interacts with the unified demographic register, the national system of biometric verification and identification of citizens, foreigners and stateless persons, and other state registers;

• the maximum storage period for personal data may not exceed 15 years;

•  a person has the right to familiarize themselves with the data about themselves in the video monitoring system.

What is wrong with the draft law:

• introduces total and essentially totalitarian control over the daily life of the state's residents, which can be used to curtail democracy and a wide range of other abuses;

•  does not establish clear and reasonable criteria for the collection and use of personal data;

• dangerously expands the influence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the whole society, turning the country into a police state;

• will lead to significant expenditures from the state budget for the implementation of the video monitoring system.

Lawyer Korzhenkova noted that video surveillance in itself is not bad.

This can be useful for fighting crime and ensuring security. But when this process becomes total and uncontrolled, it turns into a powerful tool for restricting freedoms and human rights. In this case, democracy is under threat. Why is this so? Because the right to anonymity is an important component of a democratic society. When your every move is recorded, this right is lost, and you become vulnerable to various forms of discrimination and persecution

The lawyer noted that democratic countries do not create mechanisms for centralized control over their citizens because it infringes on their freedom and privacy.

Korzhenkova said what needs to be removed or added to the draft law to make it about security and assistance to law enforcement agencies, not about privacy violations.

"To combat Russian software, we need to create an open register of cameras, which will indicate their location, owner and purpose. It is also possible to require certification or licensing of camera software. The draft law provides for much broader powers for law enforcement agencies. Cameras should be installed only in places with a high risk of crime (for example, near banks, train stations, public transport)," Korzhenkova said.

She noted that it is necessary to hold broad public discussions of the draft law with the involvement of experts, human rights activists and members of the public.

She also said that an information campaign should be developed to inform citizens about their rights and opportunities to protect their personal data.

"The current version of the draft law means total control, a police state," the lawyer emphasized.

Korzhenkova noted that according to the bill, the Interior Ministry becomes the manager of the video monitoring system, which will have to transfer data from all video surveillance cameras in the country, including private ones.

Thus, the law enforcement agency has at its disposal a huge array of the most sensitive data about each citizen. This makes it possible to track people anywhere and anytime, even without suspicion (e.g., opposition journalists, activists, political rivals, and their family members). Given that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is practically accountable to no one, as well as cyber threats from the Russian Federation, this creates huge risks of personal data leakage. In general, if the state has access to huge amounts of data on the behavior of citizens, it can use this information for manipulation, discrimination and repression

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At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs states that the operation of video monitoring systems will be based on the conditions of mandatory logging of the actions of administrators and users of such systems. The algorithm for checking user activity provides for the possibility of detecting facts of illegal information leakage.