page_title: Closed-circuit television
section_title: Computer-controlled analytics and identification
hierarchical_section_title: Closed-circuit television / Technological developments / Computer-controlled analytics and identification
caption_attribution_description: The all-seeing "eye in the sky" Taken June 5, 2004, McMaster University parking lot, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Captured using a modified Nikon D2h, with wearable computer system, late in the afternoon.
context_page_description: Closed-circuit television, also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, or mesh wired or wireless links. Though almost all video cameras fit this definition, the term is most often applied to those used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, stores, and other areas where security is needed. Though videotelephony is seldom called "CCTV" one exception is the use of video in distance education, where it is an important tool.
  Surveillance of the public using CCTV is common in many areas around the world. In recent years, the use of body worn video cameras has been introduced as a new form of surveillance, often used in law enforcement, with cameras located on a police officer's chest or head. Video surveillance has generated significant debate about balancing its use with individuals' right to privacy even when in public.
context_section_description: Computer-controlled cameras can identify, track, and categorize objects in their field of view.
  Video content analysis, also referred to as video analytics, is the capability of automatically analyzing video to detect and determine temporal events not based on a single image, but rather object classification.
  VCA analytics can also be used to detect unusual patterns in an environment. The system can be set to detect anomalies in a crowd, for instance a person moving in the opposite direction in which they are normally expected (e.g. debarking from a plane at an airport or exiting through an entrance in a subway).
  There are different approaches to implementing VCA technology. Data may be processed on the camera itself (edge processing) or by a centralized server. Both approaches have their pros and cons.
  To many, the development of CCTV in public areas, linked to computer databases of people's pictures and identity, presents a serious breach of civil liberties. Critics fear such technology will lead to the loss of anonymity in public places.
caption: Eye-in-the-sky surveillance dome camera watching from a high steel pole
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