• Citer

Surveillance in Brussels Public Transport: An Exploratory Assessment

par Debailleul, Corentin ;Bocquet, Nicolas
Référence PUTSPACE (2022: Brussels)
Publication Non publié, 2022-04-21

Communication à un colloque

• Détails
• Contenu

Résumé :

In Brussels, the largest owner of video surveillance cameras is the regional public transportoperator: the STIB-MIVB which aims at using 15,000 cameras by 2025. The SNCB-NMBSfor its part has recently announced its intention to use facial recognition and is currentlyfacilitating its roll-out by integrating it in the design of its refurbished stations. Meanwhile, thenetworks of these two major players in Brussels mobility are used every day by plenty ofindividuals who are largely unaware of the surveillance in place. Moreover, videosurveillance is not the only way to collect personal data concerning public transport (PT)users. MOBIB travel cards also allow to collect a number of personal data and have alsobeen widely criticised for not being sufficiently secure and jeopardising individuals' privacy.In addition to these two methods of collecting personal data about users, public transportregularly works with operators to model people's movements, based on their telephone data.A technology that is increasingly used to monitor people's movements, just like footfallanalytics, which is becoming more and more widespread and about which very littleinformation is broadly available until now.In order to explore how the logics of surveillance are articulated in the context of BrusselsPT, we want to highlight the actual collection and use of personal data: what kind of data iscollected by which actors? How is this data used and for what purposes? With whom is thisdata shared? How long is this data kept and where? From a methodological point of view,our presentation will be based on an exploratory work that consists in a triangulation ofsources (official documents, press, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders). Wewill also make requests for access to our own personal data to see what access is possibleas a daily user of the PT infrastructure. Empirically, this work will therefore provide a firstoverview of surveillance practices within the Brussels PT.