SMART project addresses the questions of automated decision taking with respect to the “smart surveillance” technologies in a society where privacy and data protection are fundamental rights. The risks and opportunities inherent to the use of smart surveillance will be evaluated and a number of technical, procedural and legal options for safeguards will be developed. SMART aims to create a toolkit which would inform system designers, policy makers and legislative bodies across Europe and beyond.

SMART Objective

1. Determine the state of the art and likely future trends of smart surveillance, its proportionality and impact on privacy in four key application area.
2. Identify dependency and vulnerability of smart surveillance on underlying technology infrastructures (especially telecommunications networks) and explore system integrity and privacy issues therein.
3. Identify and explore smart surveillance and privacy issues in cyberspace.
4. Map out characteristics of laws governing surveillance and identify lacunae/new safeguards as well as best practices.
5. Map out characteristics of laws governing interoperability and data exchange and identify lacunae/new safeguards as well as best practices.
6. Explore the attitudes and beliefs of citizens towards smart surveillance.
7. Establish best-practice criteria developed on the basis of operational efficiency, established legal principles and citizen perceptions.
8. Develop a toolkit for policy-makers, police and security forces to implement and promote the best practice approach, including the development of system design guidelines and a model law balancing privacy and security concerns which would be capable of pan-European application.