Singapore – 86,000 cameras for 5,638,676 people = 15.25 cameras per 1,000 people
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras serve many purposes, ranging from crime prevention to traffic monitoring to observing industrial operations in environments not suitable for humans. The digital age has boosted the prevalence of CCTV surveillance. Cameras are getting better and cheaper, while live video streams can be remotely accessed, stored on the internet, and passed around. The adoption of face recognition technology makes it possible for both public and private entities to instantly check the identity of anyone who passes by a CCTV camera.
Depending on whom you ask, the increased prevalence and capabilities of CCTV surveillance could make society safer and more efficient, could trample on our rights to privacy and freedom of movement, or both. No matter which side you argue, the fact is that live video surveillance is ramping up worldwide.
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Singapore is the 11th most-surveilled city in the world – but it doesn’t even come close to China
Ever felt like someone was watching you? If you live in China, there’s good reason to feel that way.
According to a study by UK consumer comparison website Comparitech, Chinese cities are under the heaviest CCTV surveillance in the world, making up eight out of the top 10 most-surveilled cities globally.
At the top of the ranking released on Thursday (August 15) was Chongqing, which Comparitech said had over 2.5 million cameras for 15.3 million people. That works out to be around 168.03 cameras per 1,000 people, Comparitech said.
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Singapore is the 3rd most-surveilled city outside of China, says report
Singapore is the 11th most-surveilled city in the world, according to UK comparison website Comparitech, and 3rd most-surveilled outside of China. According to the rankings released by Comparitech on 15 August based on a study of 120 cities, Chinese cities have some of the highest number of CCTV cameras per person.
In Singapore, Comparitech notes there are about 15.25 cameras per 1,000 people. Following closely was Abu Dhabi (12th place), Chicago (13th place), and Sydney (15th place) with 13.77, 13.05, and 12.35 cameras per 1,000 people respectively.
Even so, those numbers are much smaller compared to the numbers in Chinese cities which make up 8 out of the top 10 most-surveilled cities around the globe.
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Singapore to test facial recognition on lampposts, stoking privacy fears
In the not too distant future, surveillance cameras sitting atop over 100,000 lampposts in Singapore could help authorities pick out and recognize faces in crowds across the island-state.
The plan to install the cameras, which will be linked to facial recognition software, is raising privacy fears among security experts and rights groups. The government said the system would allow it to “perform crowd analytics” and support anti-terror operations.
GovTech, the Singapore government agency in charge of a “Lamppost-as-a-Platform” pilot project scheduled to begin next year, has given companies until May to register their interest in providing technology for the network.
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'Smart lamp posts' in Singapore won't shine light into people's lives
In an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia, Smart Nation and Digital Government Office Deputy Secretary Tan Kok Yam tells Ahmad Khan that the aim of smart lamp posts is strictly to improve urban planning and operations.
An ambitious project is underway to equip lamp posts in Singapore with various capabilities to improve urban planning - serving to be more than just a light source. A trial by the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) will start next year in Geylang and One-North.
This is part of Singapore’s Smart Nation Sensor Platform project, which could see all of Singapore’s 110,000 lamp posts fitted with a network of wireless sensors, to transform them into "smart lamp posts".
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Singapore to pilot smart city facial recognition project
Singapore government agency GovTech is planning to perform crowd analytics with facial analysis from a “Lamppost-as-a-Platform” (LaaP) pilot project, Reuters reports.
“As part of the LaaP trial, we are testing out various kinds of sensors on the lampposts, including cameras that can support backend facial recognition capabilities,” a GovTech spokesperson told Reuters in an email. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week he did not want the project to be overbearing, intrusive, or unethical. The GovTech spokesperson added: “The need to protect personal data and preserve privacy are key considerations in the technical implementation of the project.”
Last year the former head of Singapore’s civil service Peter Ong said the country wants to deploy the technology to all 110,000 lampposts in the country.
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Singapore to use facial recognition for national digital identity
The country will use biometrics, such as fingerprint, facial and voice recognition, for the new digital identity
Singapore will adopt a centralised biometrics identification system as part of its National Digital Identity (NDI) system.
“We want to extend this biometrics system as a service,” said Kwok Quek Sin, Senior Director of NDI from the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), at a session during the inaugural GovTech STACK Summit. “We will start off with facial recognition,” he added.
GovTech is creating a centralised biometrics system to save users the hassle of repeated enrollments. Citizens will only need to register their biometric information once under the centralised NDI system, and from there on, will no longer need to personally enroll this information for every service.
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Singapore to test facial recognition on lampposts
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week that the Smart Nation project was aimed at improving people’s lives and that he did not want it done in a way “which is overbearing, which is intrusive, which is unethical”.
The spokesman for GovTech said: “The need to protect personal data and preserve privacy are key considerations in the technical implementation of the project.” The government also hopes to use other sensors on the lamp posts to monitor air quality and water levels, count electric scooters in public places, and collect footfall data to aid urban and transport planning, GovTech said.
GovTech did not say how many lampposts would be used in the initial pilot project. But a former head of Singapore’s civil service, Peter Ong, said last year that the country aims to bring all of its 110,000 lampposts into the sensor network.
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More surveillance cameras as deterrent
Measures to boost security will also apply to soft targets like sports facilities and malls, said Mr Shanmugam
The network of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will expand significantly over the next four years, to ramp up surveillance and deter those plotting terror attacks in Singapore.
The Government will also, where necessary, pass laws to require building owners and organisers of major events to step up security, said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam yesterday. In a speech to senior Home Team officials, Mr Shanmugam laid out plans to protect key infrastructure such as government buildings, as well as soft targets like shopping malls and sports facilities.
All 10,000 Housing Board blocks and multi-storey carparks will have police cameras installed by the end of this year, he said.
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Surveillance cameras to be installed to monitor high-rise littering
The National Environment Agency (NEA) will install surveillance cameras in places with a persistent high-rise littering problem. Previously, it would have required many hours of stakeouts to catch the offender in action.
NEA said the number of high-rise littering cases rose to 5,232 last year - nearly 700 more than the previous year. The agency has apprehended and prosecuted some 40 cases in the last 10 years.
Offenders of killer litter, or high-rise littering, can face imprisonment, a fine, or both. The Housing Development Board may also compulsorily acquire the HDB flat or terminate the flat tenancy if the killer litter is thrown from any HDB property.
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REACHSingapore shared a note. April 19, 2012
High-rise litterbugs, beware! Come August, the National Environment Agency will be installing surveillance cameras in 40 areas with persistent high-rise littering activity, following an effective pilot initiative in 10 locations last year. Residents of affected blocks will be informed prior to the installation, and cameras will only focus on the blocks’ facade. Without the use of technology, nabbing litterbugs in action was previously a labour-intensive task. Last year, 31,126 man hours was spent in enforcement stakeouts and community outreach efforts, resulting in the prosecution of only 8 people.
related: Litterbugs, look out - you can get caught on camera
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Will NEA’s high-rise littering surveillance cameras invade my privacy by recording footage of activities inside my home?
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has stepped up on our enforcement efforts against littering to increase the likelihood of catching litterbugs, especially high-rise litterbugs, through the deployment of surveillance cameras. In 2018, NEA deployed cameras at more than 1,000 areas with persistent high-rise littering feedback, and took more than 1,100 enforcement actions against persons caught.
In our deployment of surveillance cameras, we are mindful of residents’ privacy and have put in place precautions. Our enforcement officers will ensure that the surveillance cameras are focused only on the external façade of the housing units being investigated, to capture the act of littering.
As for the handling of the video footage, only authorised NEA staff and the vendor can access to the recording for official purposes. There are strict protocols governing the viewing and copying of the footage, to ensure that the recordings are used only for enforcement against high-rise litterbugs. The video evidence will be shared only for the purpose of court prosecution or to facilitate investigations. Footage that does not show any littering act will be destroyed after three months.
related: Enforcement For Littering Offences Increased By Almost 22 Per Cent In 2018
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Singapore is a top hacking nation
But we are also number one in security strategy
Forget about being a Smart nation or a startup country The city-state has made into the podium as one of the top ten attacking countries, based on data from (Threatmap). The website tracks malicious cyber-attacks across the globe and consistently ranked the top aggressors in cyber-attacks. One glance on the list of top ten attacking countries, one will find the great powers of the world pitting each other for glory and honors in the cyberspace.
However, a nation or rather a city-state stood out from the rest of big countries with likes of USA, Russia, UK, Germany and China. Surprise, surprise … the city-state is none other than Singapore. According to Threatmap, the island-nation is placed on the fourth position among the top attacking countries. Singapore has held the same position rather consistently over the past two weeks, which saw almost an average cyber-attacks of 14 million cases over the world daily.
The first place in the hit-list among the Singaporean hackers is reserved for USA and the city-state is likely to inflict its target with tons of malwares. By computation, Singapore’s favorite weapons of choice belongs to access to malicious resources at 61.7%, followed by bot communication at 30.3%, then malicious file transfer at 0.9% and others malwares at 7.1%. Meanwhile, the “numero uno” or first-place among the top attacking countries is conferred to Russia which infects other machines and global networks mostly with bot communications. Ironically, Russia is also placed consistently as the number one target by hackers all over the world.
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Smart Nation Vision For Singapore
Singapore is en route to becoming the world’s first smart nation with the introduction of several new initiatives, including a new platform that encompasses the necessary infrastructure and technical architecture to support a smart nation ecosystem.
Unveiled at the opening of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) event, these new building blocks are aimed at bringing together policies, people, and technologies in a concerted fashion that will help the country realise its smart nation ambition.
Singapore has made good progress establishing the backbone infrastructure to support big data and analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and other transformational ICM technologies outlined in its Intelligent Nation Masterplan (iN2015), said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, during his opening address at imbX.
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