GATHERINGS

This is where the GATHERINGS project comes in, aiming to balance the effectiveness of surveillance, privacy protection, and the economic and social costs.

The objectives of GATHERINGS are:

• To understand how to balance the needs of various stakeholders regarding extensive surveillance of public gatherings;
• To raise citizens' awareness of the different forms of surveillance in public spaces and their privacy rights;
• To enhance public space security within the EU while minimising the need for continuous and costly data collection and storage.

To achieve these objectives, the GATHERINGS project will implement a comprehensive action plan consisting of five key steps:

• Assessment of EU public meeting surveillance practices;
• Establishing a balance between security, privacy, and the cost of surveillance;
• Creation of an online Community of Practice (CoP);
• Identifying best practices and common EU standards;
• Development of awareness programmes for local surveillance.