COMMON STANDARDS FOR SECURITY, PRIVACY AND COST OF THE SURVEILLANCE OF PUBLIC GATHERINGS

Project Information

GATHERINGS

Grant agreement ID: 101121200

DOI

10.3030/101121200

EC signature date 20 July 2023

Start date 1 October 2023

End date 30 September 2026

Funded under

• Civil Security for Society

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 826 716,25

Coordinated by

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GATHERINGS (COMMON STANDARDS FOR SECURITY, PRIVACY AND COST OF THE SURVEILLANCE OF PUBLIC GATHERINGS)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The surveillance of public events and gatherings typically involves the use of multiple technologies, by several stakeholders, often exchanging data among them. This may be problematic, considering the EU focus on the importance of privacy and data protection. We see that there is a lack of fairness and transparency in surveillance assemblages and a lack of information among stakeholders and citizens about applicable rights, surveillance practices and data transfer. We also see that the current level of harmonization in the EU with regard to regulation of privacy and data protection is low. There are serious gaps in knowledge among surveillance professionals about issues related to privacy, data protection, as well as social impact. Tools are inexistent to balance these aspects of security, privacy and cost (economic cost and social impact). Surveillance assemblages are impacting certain social groups asymmetrically, with vulnerable groups often targeted and affected more heavily.
The first overarching purpose of the GATHERINGS project consists of three ambitions: 1) to improve the efficacy of surveillance in order to render public gatherings safer; 2) to increase the fairness and transparency of surveillance by making it more privacy-friendly, 3) to boost feasibility of surveillance for involved stakeholder by making it more cost-effective, both economically and socially. The second overarching purpose is to identify gaps in terms of awareness among professionals and citizens, and bringing about international harmonisation of good practices and common standards with regard to the privacy-friendly, socially sensitive, cost-effective surveillance of safer public gatherings.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

WP1: Management and Coordination: ongoing, with deliverables D1.1 Ethics and Data management plan, D1.2. Project management and risk assessment plan, and D1.3 Progress report, as deliverables.
WP2: Mapping and evaluation of surveillance practices of public gatherings EU-wide, fully completed, with deliverable 2.1: Surveillance Impact Report
WP3: Striking a balance between security, privacy, and costs of surveillance, fully completed, with deliverable 3.1: Privacy-Security-cost Matrix
WP4: Setting up (an online) Surveillance CoP Network: ongoing, with deliverable 4.1: CoP Network Kick-Off Meeting.
WP5: Good practices and common standards, ongoing.
WP6: Development of Awareness-Raising Programmes for Local Surveillance Professionals and Citizens: ongoing, with Deliverable 6.1: Database of Practical Knowledge
WP7: Communication, Dissemination, Exploitation, fully completed, with CDE Plan (7.1) and Updated CDE Plan (7.2) as deliverables

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Expected outcomes
• Improved understanding by local authorities, operators and policy makers of the effect of large- scale surveillance of public spaces on the behaviour of citizens and possible negative effects on local communities
• Enhanced transparency for citizens on different forms of surveillance by Police Authorities, local authorities and private actors in public spaces, and increased awareness of applicable rights towards operators of such systems
• Focus on diversity issues and vulnerable populations
• Improved protection of public spaces without the need for 24/7 data collection and storage
• Set of common standards and good practices by local authorities, operators and policy makers for internal access restriction, anonymization and data minimization allowing a proportionate use of surveillance of public spaces.

Two key outputs support uptake:
1. Surveillance Impact Report (D2.1): Offers a comprehensive review of surveillance’s privacy, security, and socio-economic impacts, highlighting disparities across Member States and promoting harmonised, ethical data practices.
2. Security-Privacy-Cost Matrix (D3.1): A decision-support tool balancing security, privacy, cost, and social impact for public events. It promotes inter-agency collaboration, EU-level harmonisation, and requires validation, commercialisation, and IPR support for broader adoption.

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