Moscow to collect data from all of Russia’s street cameras

Authorities in Moscow plan to roll out a platform for centralized collection and analysis of video data from surveillance cameras across all regions of Russia. The corresponding state contract was published by the Department of Information Technologies on the RTS-Tender platform, reports «Коммерсантъ».

According to the document, the government intends to upgrade the Unified Data Storage Center (UDSC), on which the facial recognition system operates. The upgrade will allow other regions to transmit video from street cameras to the capital’s data center for subsequent processing.

It is envisaged that this will increase the efficiency of locating criminals and those evading mobilization, as well as improve overall security.

The contract is for 43.3 million rubles. The works must be completed by 16 December 2022.

“No other subject has enough money, a large data center for data storage, and a centralized solution for video analytics, while Moscow has all of this,” a source told the publication.

According to him, it is necessary to develop unified standards for information transfer and to agree on their compliance with equipment suppliers outside the capital.

The source also added that centralization will make the facial recognition system more fault-tolerant.

“The main objective of the technology is to search for criminals listed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia’s database. If all regions deploy a similar UDSC that will access the Interior Ministry’s storage, it will crash. With a single system requesting access, the load will be lower,” he said.

Another source noted that the technology can be connected to an unlimited number of databases and cameras. However, “significant expansion will require additional capacity.”

The source added that the unified network should provide high-quality data transmission at each point. But in different regions, Internet quality, the number of cameras, and the availability of other technological infrastructure vary greatly, he noted.

“It may be possible to implement a two-way data exchange — from Moscow to the regions. However, it remains unclear how and for how long the information will be stored, and who will pay for its transmission,” said the chief designer of the “Safe City” system, Oksana Yakimyuk.

In July, it was reported that 90% of data collected by Russian banks did not meet the standards of the Unified Biometric System (UBS).

In May, Russia developed a technology for covert screening of people in public places, which is designed to assess “the degree of danger a person poses to others”.

In January it emerged that in 2021, artificial intelligence helped the Russian police identify at least 164 participants in unsanctioned protests.

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