IBM, Cisco Supply Brazil with Surveillance Tools for World Cup · Global Voices
Pública - Agência de jornalismo investigativo

“Surveillance Giants keeping an Eye on Brazil.” An interactive infographic from Agência Pública shows the companies which profit through the world espionage market and how they are watching Brazil
[All links lead to webpages in Portuguese unless otherwise indicated.]
This article, by Bruno Fonseca, Jessica Mota, Luiza Bodenmüler, and Natalia Viana, was originally published on September 6, 2013 by Agência Pública as part of its special #SpyFiles3 coverage. Read the first part of this series: Brazil Becomes Hot Market for Surveillance Technology Ahead of World Cup [en]
According to market research firm IMS Research [en], Brazil is a big market for video surveillance systems in Latin America (constituting 45% of the total up until 2014), made even hotter due to the upcoming mega events. Oliver Philippou, author of the research [en], stated at the time:
Equipamentos de vigilância serão usados para os dois maiores eventos de esporte no mundo a Copa do Mundo de 2014 e as Olimpíadas de 2016; em um grande número de projetos de infraestrutura no Brasil; e diversos projetos de vigilância extensiva nas cidades.
Surveillance equipment will be used for the two largest sporting events in the world, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics; in a large number of infrastructure projects in Brazil, and for diverse extensive surveillance projects in cities.
Since 2010, American multinational firm IBM [en] has attempted to sell to the Brazilian government its concept of “more intelligent cities,” with technological solutions in the areas of transportation, energy, and increasingly, security. In that same year, the firm supported a “road show” of the National Confederation of Shopkeepers (Confederação Nacional de Dirigentes Lojistas) in the 12 host cities of the World Cup and chose its manager of new technologies, Cezar Taurion, as article contributor for the site World Cup 2014 Portal [en], according to IBM’s site, in order to:
debater como a tecnologia pode ajudar a desenvolver a infraestrutura das cidades brasileiras e prepará-las para a Copa do Mundo de 2014, ajudando a torná-las mais inteligentes.
debate how technology can help develop the infrastructure of Brazilian cities and prepare them for the 2014 World Cup, helping them become more intelligent.
The results were worth the effort: IBM became responsible for designing the Integrated Command and Control Centers technological centers which concentrate decisions concerning security during the games. In these centers, huge screens monitor everything from street cameras around the stadiums to weather data, in addition to maps which show the locations of car accidents. And in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, they had a crucial role in the strategy of police repression against the massive protests which took place in June 2013. The military police, civil police, firefighters, Medical Mobile Emergency Assistance (SAMU), federal police, federal highway police, municipal guards, civil defense, and the Traffic Engineering Company all work in cooperation at these centers.
In total, the installations in Rio cost nearly 104.5 million Brazilian reais (approximately 44 million US dollars) — 70 percent paid by the state government and 30 percent by the federal government, according to data released by the municipal government of Rio. IBM provided the hardware, software, analytics, and research. The English surveillance giant Cisco provided the network infrastructure and the videoconferencing system that connects the center of operations directly to the mayor’s house.
The Center was inaugurated at the end of May this year, just weeks before the beginning of the protests and the Confederations Cup. For the occasion, Brazilian Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardoso welcomed the work as “impressive in its technology and functionality” and said:
Este centro é exemplo para o mundo. A segurança pública do país ganha em qualidade, é um legado que vai ficar para a sociedade brasileira após os grandes eventos.
This center is an example for the world. The country’s public security gains in quality, it is a legacy that will remain for Brazilian society after the mega events.
IBM also won the contract to implement the 27 Command and Control Mobile Integrated Centers (known by its Portuguese acronym CiCCM), a project of the Special Secretariat of Security for Mega Events (known by its Portuguese acronym SESGE), together with the companies Rontan and Medidata, as well as Cisco. There are 27 trucks with the information technology, communications systems, and video monitoring for the 2014 World Cup which will function as advance command and control stations operated by agents os the above mentioned forces. Rodrigo Dientsmann, president of Cisco Brazil, affirmed:
O centro móvel será fundamental para a gestão da segurança durante os grandes eventos ao reunir o que há de mais eficaz em tecnologia para respostas rápidas à incidentes e ameças.
The mobile center will be fundamental to the management of security during the mega events by bringing together the most effective technology for rapid responses to incidents and threats.
To find out more about the involvement of these international surveillance companies in Brazil, check out the information at the bottom of the original story, in Portuguese.