The "eyes" of private individuals to control the city: what happened to the registration of the cameras

From Pisa to Piacenza, from Milan to Turin, the municipalities enlist private surveillance cameras to monitor security. Wired's investigation

Video surveillance cameras (Pixabay) In the beginning, and in the absence of an official chronology, it was Pisa that tested the first register of cameras in Italy. Anno Domini 2013, in the city of the famous Leaning Tower, the prefect of the time, Francesco Tagliente, launched a census to find out the exact location and those responsible for the private video surveillance devices in the area. Shops, condominiums, companies and tobacconists have an informal network of 1,472 electronic "eyes" focused on streets, squares and alleys, according to the numbers of the first survey, to which Tagliente wants to connect a name, a surname and a telephone number to find out who to knock, if video camera recordings prove necessary in an investigation.

Since then, the idea of ​​a camera registry has attracted proselytes along the boot. From Novara, where in 2017 the proposal of the 5 Star Movement arrives on the benches of the city council, in Terni. From Piacenza, who baptized her on 9 March 2015, in Milan. From Casoria, where private individuals can connect their plants to the municipal network, to Rimini, where in 2019 the administration signs an agreement with trade associations. Until the last project in chronological order, promoted by the Municipality of Turin. Argo, they called him to the Civic Palace, after the mythological giant with a hundred eyes.