By: Rob Oldham, CPP, PSP, PCI Physical Security Leader | Video & Access Control | Privacy-Conscious Design

Video surveillance has a privacy problem.

As security professionals, we are asked to deliver clear, actionable video for safety, investigations, and compliance—while simultaneously protecting the privacy and dignity of the people in that video. For schools, hospitals, and correctional facilities, this tension is especially sharp.

One technology that is starting to bridge this gap is real-time privacy masking at the edge, often branded as “live privacy” analytics by the major camera manufacturers. Rather than choosing between full-fidelity video and privacy, these tools let us design systems that do both.

What “live privacy” actually does

Modern privacy-masking analytics run directly on the camera and can:

Detect people or motion in a scene and automatically blur or block them in real time.

Preserve behavior and context—direction of travel, posture, crowding, without making individuals easily identifiable.

Offer both masked and unmasked streams, so day-to-day users see anonymized video, while a small, authorized group can access unmasked footage when there is a legitimate investigative need.

Different vendors implement this slightly differently, but the core value is the same: privacy by design, enforced at the edge.

Why this matters in schools

K-12 and higher ed environments face intense scrutiny around surveillance, student data, and trust. At the same time, they are under pressure to address bullying, vaping, fights, and campus intrusions.

Real-time privacy masking can help schools:

Protect student identities by default Hallways, common areas, and some classroom views can be monitored with masked faces or fully anonymized silhouettes for most staff. Security and

administrators still retain the ability to review unmasked recordings in the event of an incident, provided there is a clear justification.

Maintain situational awareness Even with masking, staff can see crowding, loitering near sensitive areas, aggressive movement, or unsafe behavior. You don’t need to see a student’s face in real time to know a situation is escalating.

Build trust with parents and the community When you can confidently say, “Most people who view our cameras do not see identifiable images of your children unless there’s a real incident,” it changes the conversation about surveillance on campus.

Why this matters in hospitals

Healthcare facilities walk a tightrope between clinical visibility, security, and patient privacy. Traditional video can feel at odds with the expectations patients have about confidentiality.

Live privacy analytics support hospitals by:

Reducing perceived intrusiveness In hallways, waiting rooms, and some patient-adjacent areas, anonymized monitoring allows staff to see falls, agitation, wandering, or potential workplace violence without exposing every patient’s face to every viewer.

Supporting privacy and compliance goals While the legal details depend on jurisdiction and policy, the design principle is sound: collect and expose the minimum identifiable information necessary for the task at hand, and reserve full-fidelity views for a tightly controlled group with a legitimate purpose.

Enhancing staff safety and response Integrated with panic buttons or event triggers, masked views still provide enough context around an escalating situation to dispatch help quickly, while detailed, unmasked video is available to a restricted audience for post-incident review and reporting.

Why this matters in prisons and corrections

Correctional environments require robust, continuous monitoring, but they also carry significant legal, ethical, and reputational risk tied to video.

Real-time masking can help corrections teams:

Balance constant observation with privacy expectations Day rooms, pods, and visitation areas can be monitored for many users with anonymized inmate data, without losing visibility into movement patterns, groupings, or rule violations.

Limit exposure of identifiable video By defaulting to masked streams for most users, and reserving unmasked access for internal affairs, command staff, or specific legal processes, you reduce the amount of highly sensitive, identifiable video circulating inside and outside the organization.

Streamline training and transparency Masked footage is far easier to use for training, external audits, or public briefings without extensive manual redaction work, lowering the friction to appropriate transparency.

Designing for privacy and security together

For integrators, consultants, and security leaders, the real opportunity is strategic design:

Define which roles see masked vs unmasked video, and in which areas.

Align masking policies with your organization’s risk appetite, legal guidance, and culture.

Use privacy-by-default views to get stakeholder buy-in for broader, smarter camera coverage.

Multiple leading manufacturers now offer some flavor of on-camera privacy analytics. That’s good news: it means we can focus less on brand and more on outcomes, safer environments, reduced risk, and better alignment with stakeholder expectations.

As someone who has spent a career at the intersection of physical security, technology, and organizational trust, I believe real-time privacy masking will become a baseline expectation in sensitive environments, not a niche add-on.

If you’re responsible for security in a school district, healthcare system, or correctional agency and haven’t revisited your video strategy with these capabilities in mind, now is the time.