Support for privacy

What is masking?

In video surveillance, privacy technology, called masking, allows you to record video of an entire scene while hiding people, objects, or areas in that scene from view. Privacy masking can be either static or dynamic. In other words, it can be applied to still objects or moving objects. Axis also offers other surveillance technologies, such as thermal or radar technology which make it impossible to identify people in the scene without masking.

Why is masking important?

Without images, there’s no image usability. But users can’t always capture images of identifiable people or places due to privacy laws and regulations. They may have to monitor a large area without recording private premises within that area, for example. Or they might need to keep an eye on products on a production line while protecting the privacy of workers, or monitor a schoolyard without capturing identifiable images of students. Axis privacy technology allows surveillance and remote monitoring while addressing these and other similar restrictions.

The Axis advantage

Axis privacy masking offers extraordinary reliability and capabilities. Because we relentlessly test our software, we can confidently say our privacy masks rarely fail to work properly, which is no small feat.

Fixed objects stay masked when a PTZ camera’s field of view changes. And it’s possible to apply masks automatically to a virtually unlimited number of windows – rather than manually at great expense. We offer all kinds of masking including fixed, dynamic, and AI-based dynamic. Other options include masking selected areas, and indoor and outdoor masking. Users can also choose to mask only faces or entire individuals and whether to be able to see movement in masked areas. And for absolute privacy, we offer thermal and radar monitoring solutions.

From 1 to 1,000 and counting

All Axis cameras have pretty much always had some kind of privacy masking. But back in the day, the number of masks available per video stream wasn’t huge. So, the Axis development folks set to work. First there were eight. Then 32, 64, and then more than 100. Today, users can have as many masks as they want. Up to as high as you can count and well beyond. Not bad, right?

The cost of window masking

While most of the time more is better, in scenes with lots of windows, more was also more expensive. A lot more expensive. Think about it. To mask all the windows in a city block – let’s say in New York or London – someone would have to manually apply masks to thousands of windows. And someone would have to pay for all that time spent masking.

AXIS Live Privacy Shield

A window of opportunity

Some Axis customers weren’t too happy about all that time and money used on manual masking. So, the Axis team went back to work. They built an algorithm that lets users press a single button to mask all the windows and – just like that – problem solved. Every window is permanently and flawlessly masked. So, users can spend their time on things that are more profitable. And Axis can move on to the next innovation.

Privacy in surveillance