Video redaction is necessary for compliance with privacy regulations when organisations share footage with third parties and respond to subject access requests.
In this article, we share the most common scenarios we see our clients focus on across industries and how our solution, Identity Cloak, helps them fulfil subject access requests quickly and in a compliant manner.
We’ll also share some examples of scenarios that are becoming increasingly more common, such as video anonymisation for training videos and more.
#Typical video redaction use cases across industries
As a rule, organisations need to redact video footage when sharing it with third parties: law enforcement, insurers, law firms, courts, or private persons submitting subject access requests to gain access to footage that captures them on camera.
Depending on the industry, video sources may include legacy and modern CCTV solutions, bodycam and dashcam footage, as well as recordings made on phone cameras.
Below, we present different video redaction scenarios and industry-specific redaction needs. We’ll also show how some of our customers handle video redaction with Identity Cloak.
#Healthcare: staff and patient interactions in sensitive settings
Hospitals and other healthcare organisations work in fast-moving, complex environments, where footage captures multiple types of personal data, from faces to sensitive information, including in spoken conversations.
Frequently teams need to anonymise personal data in:
Recordings of medical procedures or consultations used for training, research or publication
Bodycam footage worn by medical staff (e.g. ambulance, ward staff)
Surveillance footage within hospital premises for SARs and incident reports
Audio redaction of conversations containing prescription or medical data
Live feed in NHS control rooms
Multiple NHS hospitals, including Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust, The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and King's College Hospital are using Identity Cloak to anonymise footage for subject access requests in-house, without risking uploading their footage to the cloud or outsourcing video redaction.
The reasons healthcare organisations choose Identity Cloak include:
Flexible redaction modes for blurring different types of environments
Ease of use and fast processing
Ability to automate redaction for complex subject access requests
The software is incredibly easy to use, it’s so intuitive. We just upload the video, set our preferences, and let the automation do the work. As a small team, we simply don’t have the time to make lots of manual adjustments. Identity Cloak saves us hours.
The application sits within our own network, which ensures that the Trust’s video never leaves our own secure environment, rather than having to place our video in the Cloud, which was an issue here at the Trust.
Read our in-depth article on different video redactions software applications in hospitals, including CCTV, bodycams, and mobile phone recordings.
Facit offers discounts to educational and healthcare institutions – reach out to find out more.
#Law enforcement and public safety: footage for public releases and court submissions
Law enforcement and public safety organisations will need to redact video footage before public release or court submission or when complying with FOIA transparency requests. One of the biggest challenges for these institutions is handling low-quality or shaky footage, for example, from bodycams or dashcams.
Other types of videos that law enforcement and public safety agencies may need to redact include:
Police interview recordings
Surveillance footage, including CCTV
Another challenge these organisations face is that for higher-volume or longer videos, processing video footage manually isn’t an option.
For example, one of Identity Cloak users, the Paris Police Department, needed an automated solution to redact faces to stay compliant with GDPR and France’s new SREN law.
Here’s why the department chose Identity Cloak:
Full compliance with SREN (the Law to Secure and Regulate the Digital Space, introduced in 2024) and GDPR
Protection of third-party privacy
Reduced workload for data protection officers and video analysts
Read more about bodycam footage redaction for law enforcement.
#Transportation and logistics: fare dodging, incident reports, and footage of operations
In the transportation sector, surveillance cameras are often installed to ensure safety and identify potential threats.
Video redaction software can help transportation authorities comply with privacy regulations by automatically redacting faces, license plates and other personal identifiers from the footage.
Redaction automation is particularly important for high-volume video redaction projects or projects that combine multiple footage sources.
Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), Ireland’s state-owned public transport group, was able to reduce redaction time by 90% compared to outsourcing the footage redaction.
And Nottingham City Transport uses Identity Cloak to redact footage across 4,000+ cameras installed on 289 vehicles, redacting a single video in less than a day.
Logistics companies may need to supervise operations or provide recordings as a proof of delivering or receiving packages. For example, Kingston Technology provides order verification with videos redacted in Identity Cloak.
Additional scenarios when transportation and logistics organisations may need video redaction include:
Submitting evidence of fare evasion and incidents, including traffic accidents
Protecting customer addresses and personal interactions recorded on delivery vehicle dashcams
Monitoring warehouse activities to provide proof of delivery or processing
Live redaction of depot feeds
Here are some of the reasons transportation agencies and logistics companies have chosen Identity Cloak:
Accurate, automated redaction for different types of footage
Fast video processing that fits organisations’ budgets
Ability to redact complex scenes with minimal manual work
It’s made an unbelievable difference - like night and day. Even in complex scenes, Identity Cloak finds and redacts the vast majority of sensitive material automatically and minimises the need for manual intervention.
It takes the pain away, you just upload your video, and Identity Cloak tracks and redacts individuals automatically and accurately. It’s reliable, easy to use and makes the whole process faster.
Video redaction for transportation.
#Education: on-campus security and incidents on school property
Educational organisations have strict requirements for protecting students’ personal data, and may need to combine different types of blur to make sure that they truly protect students’ identities.
In general, educational institutions may need video redaction software for:
Redacting footage of recorded school events, including audio tracks
Recordings of accidents or incidents happening on the school property
Live face blurring to protect students’ and visitors’ identities on campuses
Schools and education providers in the UK, the US and Canada use Identity Cloak to provide footage to parents and authorities in a compliant manner and on time, without going over budget.
This is why they chose Identity Cloak to handle video redaction:
Ability to process an increasing number of SARs in-house
Up to 80% faster processing times and lower risk of human error
Ability to work with digital and analogue footage
Now, I can focus on my other IT priorities with confidence, knowing FOIP requests are handled efficiently and compliantly.
Each video has its own context and challenges. One might be a playground altercation; another footage of classroom damage. Identity Cloak gives us the flexibility to tailor our redaction approach to the scenario.
Read more about using Identity Cloak for FERPA-compliant sharing of video footage.
Facit offers discounts to educational and healthcare institutions – reach out to find out more.
#Retail: proof of incidents, response to insurance requests and SARs
Commercial organizations, such as shopping centres and retailers may be required to provide redacted footage in response to SARs and share incident CCTV or bodycam footage with law enforcement, including cases when it contains audio tracks with sensitive conversations.
Additional scenarios where retail organisations may need video redaction software include:
Responding to parking lot incidents captured on CCTV, including vehicles or bystanders
Internal staff investigations and providing proof of wrongdoing
For large, multi-location retail chains, being able to redact videos in a compliant, timely, and centralised manner may be one of the deciding factors in choosing video redaction software.
Some of Identity Cloak retail clients have been able to reduce video redaction costs by 90%, and others, such as River Island, have expanded their video redaction software usage to also include refund disputes investigations and loss prevention reviews.
As our needs change it’s good to know that our compliance software is ahead of emerging requirements. Identity Cloak isn’t just a piece of software, it’s essential in ensuring we meet our obligations to our customers, our staff and the law.
Our relationship is really good and we have massively saved on time. At first I had to sell it to the team; they felt it was daunting, particularly as they thought they would have to blur every single individual themselves. But once I showed them how to blur and that it just does a full screen blur and it can track, they were much happier.
#Government and public sector: live face blurring, public release, and incidents
Local government and public organisations may need to redact footage in the following scenarios:
Face blurring in municipal control rooms
Redacting CCTV footage for FOIA requests
Training footage to protect personnel identities
Incident footage in public spaces, such as car parks or high streets
Sharing footage with media organisations for broadcasting
For example, the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court (CCJC) needed a video redaction tool to redact videos of large crowds and busy areas from multiple video sources – the court captures thousands of hours of data per day across 500 cameras.
A local authority using Identity Cloak needed a video redaction tool that would work with their infrastructure and process videos for authorities in criminal and civil action cases.
They chose our solution because of its flexible blurring settings, predictable pricing, and ease of use.
Working with Identity Cloak is a very intuitive simple process. I use the software anything up to 10 times a day. It is perfect for our needs and has been 100% reliable. We have tried other systems but this was the easiest by some margin.
#Entertainment and hospitality venues: altercations, accidents, and internal investigations
For museums and entertainment or hospitality venues, sharing CCTV, mobile recordings, or bodycam footage may be relevant in the following cases:
Rapid incident response for incidents from theft to non-payments
Requests from visitors or third parties for footage captured during venue visits or events
Footage of car park and traffic issue to share with law enforcement and insurers
Venues like Tate Museum and Wembley Park use Identity Cloak for:
faster processing times
compliant data sharing
automated workflows.
It takes us one or two minutes to retrieve the video and usually about half an hour to process and output a compliant record of events. That’s compared to the hours it used to take to redact video and the resource drain on Wembley Park. Identity Cloak is easy to use.
The investment in Identity Cloak has been excellent value, It allows us to maintain high standards of security and compliance while being agile enough to respond fast when it counts.
Read more about video redaction for footage of public venues in this article.
#Emerging video redaction software use cases
#Security and fraud detection in casinos
Casinos employ advanced video surveillance systems to monitor patrons and staff, to ensure fair play and detect fraudulent activities.
Video redaction technology helps obscure sensitive information such as patrons' faces or personal data during investigations or when sharing footage with external agencies.
Metropolitan Gaming, for example, uses Identity Cloak’s Milestone plug-in to redact footage.
For us, Identity Cloak is a significant cost-saving tool that enhances our data protection capabilities in what is always a hectic and complex environment.
#Training and best practice video recordings
Some of Facit’s users are now using Identity Cloak to redact their own video footage for training purposes and showcase best practices, instead of using stock footage or paying a high price for bespoke training videos.
They are able to blur personal identifiable information, and use this to enhance policies and training, and to have examples of real life good practice.
Read more about using video footage for training purposes, including tips on staying compliant.
Try Identity Cloak for 7 days
If you’re looking for video redaction software for one of these use cases, try out Identity Cloak. It was designed to complete video redaction projects in under 10 minutes on average and can be used without extensive training.
Our plans are based on the number of redacted videos for easy budgeting. There are no limits on how long your videos can be or the file size for import or export.
If you’re not sure if Identity Cloak is the right fit for your use case, reach out to our team for a demo.
