Paris – France – AFP – Tuesday, August 3, 2021 – The municipality of the North has deployed from 2018 video protection cameras provided by the Huawei company. A device “partially intrusive”, warns the National Commission for Information Technology and Freedoms.
The personal data policeman sends a warning to Valenciennes. The National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (CNIL) announced Tuesday, August 3 that it had warned the municipality of the North regarding the use of its video protection device provided by Huawei, of “particularly intrusive nature”, confirming information from Mediapart.
Valenciennes “has entered into an agreement with the company Huawei whereby it provides the city with a fleet of high-definition cameras free of charge, deployed from April 2018, as well as three software for automated analysis of the images captured by the video protection system “, reports the CNIL in a warning dated May 12 and addressed to the town hall. The various tools made available include “a device for the automatic reading of license plates” as well as “devices for assisted image analysis”, we can read in the report of the on-site check on February 12, 2020 , partially posted by Mediapart (article for subscribers).
A device “not in conformity with the law in force”
The automated reading of license plates “has, according to the indications provided by the municipality, the objective of responding automatically to requests from the police”, explains the Commission. However, “a processing of automated reading of the license plates could not be implemented lawfully by the municipality of Valenciennes in order to answer the requisitions of the police force”, she estimated. Concerning the devices for assisted analysis of images is “likely to generate a high risk for the rights and freedoms of natural persons”. “The warning is not a public decision but was intended to warn the data controller that the device envisaged but not used by the municipality did not comply with the law in force concerning the protection of personal data”, the CNIL told AFP on Tuesday. Contacted by AFP, the town hall of Valenciennes has not yet responded to the requests.
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