Reversed Surveillance

Reversed surveillance by Marcel Top is a visualisation of invasive surveillance technologies, challenging the prospect of automating crime detection during protests in France. The project reflects on the development and legislation of mass surveillance by offering a case study on how individuals can protect themselves using the very tools with which they are surveilled.

Following the enactment of new legislation allowing the use of AI-enhanced surveillance in France (Law No. 2023-380), Marcel Top uses accessible algorithms and available protest footage to simulate how the use of Algorithmic Video Surveillance (AVS) can impact a protest. Regarding demonstrators, AVS uses a series of algorithms (including, but not limited to, face collection, crowd analysis, emotion recognition, and movement analysis) that can flag abnormal behaviour in real time, assisting the police in identifying and possibly removing suspects from the crowd.