FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Farewell to privacy? Life in public spaces is entering the era of "Big Brother".
The Albanian government has officially launched the implementation of the much-debated "Smart City" digital surveillance project, which envisages monitoring public spaces, schools and roads through a network of around 5,000 smart cameras. The project has raised questions about citizens' privacy, cybersecurity and significant investment costs.
In the first step of the project, the 20 most frequented schools in Tirana have been equipped with 600 smart cameras. The system was presented by Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Education, during an inspection at the Command and Control Center of the "Smart City" project.
The Prime Minister stated that the new technology aims to strengthen public safety and take crime prevention to another level, especially for the protection of children. Rama directly linked this investment to the tragedy that occurred at the "Fan Noli" school, describing the project as the institutional response to that event. He added that the project represents a "system response" to the tragedy.
" Today everyone has forgotten the tragic murder of a student at the 'Fan Noli' school, which shocked the entire country and created a psychological situation with the different versions of the event, with the extreme politicization of death and with bloody journalism. Meanwhile, the State Police, the Ministry of Education and the government were targeted by speculations, fabrications and fabrications that lasted for quite some time and tortured the family members and public opinion. I have not forgotten. This project is our response to that tragedy. It will enable many children, who may be potentially at risk, to not have consequences, because this systemic reaction will leave behind a sophisticated technological mechanism. It will enable prevention to be raised to another level" , said Rama.
The system is not limited to ordinary cameras, it includes high-precision radars and intelligent noise sensors spread across 24 major cities, 28 border crossing points and initially in 20 schools in Tirana. Through a new command and control center, the software powered by artificial intelligence processes gigabytes of information, images and audio from 873 operational locations in a matter of seconds. The government’s goal is for the whole of Albania to be under direct monitoring within the next 12 months to guarantee public order and safety.
While the government presents "Smart City" as a project that aims to increase public safety, intelligent traffic management, and improve the State Police's capacities for real-time response, other risks are hidden behind this.
The project has sparked a strong public debate. Privacy and cybersecurity organizations and experts have raised concerns that Albania is entering a new phase of digital surveillance, where thousands of cameras will continuously monitor citizens' movements in public spaces.
In addition to issues related to privacy, questions have also been raised about the security of the data that will be collected by the system, the level of protection against cyber attacks, and the transparency of information management. Considering the fact that our country has been attacked several times by hackers and citizens' data has been released on the black market, this initiative increases the risk of these cameras being hacked by external factors, who would pay millions to have access to them. Starting from criminal groups, to enemy countries and other factors./ Pamphlet
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