Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union speaks against installing cameras at business entities

YEREVAN, September 20 /ARKA/. Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union issued a statement regarding a package of bills designed to amend the law On Police and some related laws, calling it controversial.

On June 12, the Armenian Parliament approved a package of amendments to the law On Police and related laws, according to which large business entities and companies will be required to install external surveillance cameras.

“Forcing business entities to install cameras 24/7 at their own expense is an additional, unjustified financial burden for them, which is an extremely negative practice of the state imposing financial expenses in addition to taxes,” says the statement.

It is noted that these amendments are controversial, including from the point of view of protecting personal data. Police access to company cameras 24/7 can’t be justified by the esire to reduce crime, since even now the police can obtain information from the cameras of any business entity through legal proceedings. And the police's round-the-clock connection to these cameras contains many risks of leaking personal data. 

It is stated also that this law is problematic from the point of view of corruption, since from time to time news about the discovery of facts of corruption in the police system appears in open sources. In such circumstances, round-the-clock police access to internal video surveillance systems of companies is extremely risky, especially from the point of view of the sale of personal and business information.

The Mantashyants Union argues that the amendments are also controversial from the point of view of cybersecurity. Considering that even the developed countries in the world occasionally experience serious cybersecurity problems, the widespread installation of video surveillance systems and connecting them all to a single network could create serious threats to Armenia's cybersecurity. 

The amendments lack clarity regarding the procedure for monitoring, storing and using data, which, in turn, can cause many problems. 

Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union proposes to suspend the promotion of the amendments and take into account the above-mentioned concerns of society in the revised amendments,” the statement reads. -0-

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14:26 09/20/2024