Supraveghere

Supraveghere is the act of monitoring people, places, or information to collect data, deter crime, manage risk, or support decision-making. In Romanian, the term denotes surveillance or supervision and derives from the verb supraveghea, meaning to oversee.

Surveillance can be physical or digital. Physical supraveghere includes cameras, patrols, and on-site observation. Digital supraveghere covers the collection and processing of personal data, network monitoring, automated analytics, and biometric systems.

Common forms include video surveillance, audio monitoring, traffic and access controls, data analytics, and, increasingly, facial recognition or other biometric tools. The use of these methods is often justified by security, operational efficiency, or regulatory compliance, but it raises privacy and civil liberties considerations.

Legal framework: In the European Union, surveillance activities must comply with GDPR, data-protection principles, and sector-specific rules. Legitimacy requires a lawful basis, purpose limitation, data minimization, transparency, and retention limits. In Romania, ANSPDCP (Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal) supervises the application of these rules and handles complaints and enforcement.

Ethics and governance: Surveillance systems are typically subject to impact assessments, data protection by design, independent oversight, and clear access controls. Debates focus on proportionality, consent, and the balance between public safety and individual rights.