MASA

Duration: 2022 – (ongoing)
Project holders: Politiscope (HR), SHARE Foundation (RS)
Support: European AI & Society Fund (Open Call 2022)
Allocated support to Politiscope: €70,000

The project Monitoring AI-backed Surveillance Architectures (MASA) is being implemented in partnership with the SHARE Foundation from Belgrade.

The goal of the project is to ensure that the development and application of artificial intelligence respect the highest human rights standards. Special attention is given to Southeast European countries, where capacities for the responsible use of AI systems are still weak and underdeveloped.

The project monitors and analyzes the development of AI-related legislation in the region – including the new EU Artificial Intelligence Act. In addition, it maps AI systems already in use, those planned, or those being introduced, with a special focus on surveillance technologies in Serbia and Croatia.

Belgrade has become a key example. Authorities acquired and installed over a thousand “smart” cameras with facial recognition capabilities. However, the biometric functionality of the system was never activated – precisely due to the lack of a clear legal basis and the pressure of civil society organizations, among which the SHARE Foundation plays a key role.

At the European level, MASA focuses on the AI Act and other digital regulations. Politiscope and SHARE are members of the EDRi network and, together with other members, actively influence the content of the Act and accompanying documents adopted after its adoption. Through analyses, consultations and public debates, the project strengthens institutional capacities and opens space for the responsible implementation of rules.

One of the project’s results is the publication Beyond the Face: Biometrics and Society (2024), one of the most comprehensive global studies on biometric surveillance. Members of the Politiscope team, Duje Kozomara and Duje Prkut, are co-authors of this publication, which was publicly presented in Brussels and Zagreb.

At the SEEDIG 8 conference in Zagreb (2023), Politiscope organized a panel on the relationship between the GDPR and the AI Act, bringing together the Croatian Data Protection Agency (AZOP), the Office of the Ombudsperson, and companies Rimac and Infobip. In this way, the project linked regulatory requirements with institutional practice and business interests.