“Thousands of Cameras” – a citizen response to mass biometric surveillance

SHARE, an organisation based in Belgrade, are investigating Huawei’s dealings with the Serbian government. In this case study, they explain what obstacles they faced and how they used public action to overcome them. Well into the 21st century, Serbia still does not have a strong privacy culture, which has been left in the shadows of past regimes and widespread surveillance. Even today, direct police and security agencies’ access to communications metadata stored by mobile and internet operators makes mass surveillance possible. However, a new threat to human rights and freedoms in Serbia has emerged. In early 2019, the Minister of Interior and the Police Director announced that Belgrade will receive “a thousand” smart surveillance cameras with face and license plate recognition capabilities, supplied by the Chinese tech giant – Huawei.

Photo: Mirko Jeremić on Unsplash