Future Potential for CCTV Systems
Introduction
Just thinking of what the future will be like when it comes to CCTV cameras. We all know they exist; we even understand the purposes behind those cameras. CCTV stands for closed-circuit television. Meaning a network of cameras is connected to a TV set, mostly for security. But is there something more to this? You see, CCTV was originally invented by the Germans in 1942 during World War 2. The Germans wanted to find a way to track V-2 rockets as they are being launched, so they decided that they should get cameras involved. Now, CCTV cameras are used to monitor people out in public. But discreetly. You see, people want to have a sense of safety where CCTV cameras are now adapted to catch criminals in the act and hopefully use CCTV technology to gather evidence to get them behind bars. Now CCTV is made to get criminals who commit crimes to be put in jail, but what if we can use it to prevent criminals from committing a crime before it happens?
AI Integrated with CCTV
Looking deeper into the possibility of what CCTV cameras can bring and what added functionality can be placed into them. Companies are thinking of incorporating AI technologies into them. What for? Well according to them, they can be used to automate people and traffic counting. So, for statistical purposes and for security when it comes to detecting people’s faces and license plate numbers. So, this got me thinking, can we expand on that? I also imagine in the movies where the government is in this secluded room where they pull up camera footage and zoom in on the suspect face. Then magically they made the image clearer and an AI analyze the suspect facial feature. Then some sort of pop-up appears where the AI identify the suspect with their personal information on the screen within seconds.
Credit: https://www.avigilon.com/products/ai-video-analytics/facial-recognition
So given the example from earlier here, as of right now, I do not believe we are there yet when it comes to this type of technology of pulling random people up from a database to identify them from simple CCTV footage. However, I don’t think we are that far off from it either. If any of you have ever seen CCTV footage before, you would know that the quality is not the best. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is in 144p. The reason behind this is that having higher-quality footage to stream and record all the time is very computer intensive and expensive. However, I could see companies still accomplishing the movie scene vision if they incorporate AI. You see, the AI can detect people’s faces, now if an AI detects a face that would match the basic description of the suspect (height, sex, and other basic features like hair color). Then the AI will let the CCTV camera know to increase the quality and take snapshots of the suspect at hand, which then run the process of identifying the suspect by querying the database. So, in a way, the quality of CCTV footage can be dynamic based on certain triggers that the AI will notify. If this happens, it won’t be that much worse for CPU power, and it won’t cost as much either as having 4K quality cameras running all the time. I estimate that AI technology might be the most expansive part of the whole project.
CCTV Being Discrete
Another thought that came up to mind is, what if CCTV cameras have become more discrete? Think about the phones with cameras and the cameras that spies would wear in movies. Those types of cameras are kind of tiny, so tiny that just by looking at them directly, we will only notice a tiny black dot (talking about the modern front-facing phone cameras). Not to mention, the quality of those cameras is better than CCTV camera footage as well. What if we utilize the same technology that I just described before from these cell phones into CCTV cameras? Those cameras could blend easily into the background of large cities, inside buildings, and even in the countryside if there are telephone poles around. In the future, hidden cameras might become more durable if the glass is tougher than typical cameras today. That way if someone or something accidentally tries to damage them, they will still be in functional condition; that’s if they notice it’s there in the first place. That’s a plus for the owner of these cameras so that they don’t have to spend more money on maintenance/repairs for these CCTV cameras. The only issue when it comes to these types of technology is in two parts, the morality and the business cost for them.
Credit: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Camera-Smoke-Detector-Detection/dp
Issues
The issue when it comes to the business side of things would be the initial costs for all these cameras to be replaced and the engineering it would take to correctly configure them. While the price will be high at first to replace them all, the return on investment for those owners might be greater if they want to better identify criminals and gather statistical data for traffic. The issue when it comes to morality would be the invasion of privacy and the availability of these technologies. There is a high chance that criminals might take advantage of this too if they can easily purchase these types of cameras online. They can simply install them in other people’s homes to spy on them. Which would be a good segway into privacy concerns. Is this crossing the line when it comes to being monitored and tracked of our every move? If this does go into effect, will citizens have the consent feeling of “being watched? “Will the public even have a vote on the matter? Is this sacrifice of privacy worth it for the better safety of society, will there be privacy in the future, does privacy even exist anymore today? There is a good ethical argument to be made if these cameras go into effect in the future if society decides to integrate more discrete AI-powered cameras within the public space.
Conclusion
Seeing the possibility of ubicomp going to cameras could be seen as either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you ask. It’s a good thing for the government and the organizations that own and manufactures it because the ubicomp of these camera systems will be better at blending into their surroundings to make it easier to catch criminals in the act and possibly stop them before the act could even take place. It also could be seen as a bad thing to the public because normal people who will never commit a crime in their life would not benefit from this; it could cost them their privacy rights. Depending on how you look at it, it does seem we do have the technologies to implement the ubicomp powers into these CCTV cameras; it is just a matter of time until an organization has the budget and resources to do it.
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