Legal Aspects Of Cctv

[Doktor Jon]

(that sounds so confusing, even I'm having to think about it ).

Be gentle with me luggsey, I'd just had a 19 hour day and that was my third one this week, so even I'm allowed to get confused occasionally, especially at my age

As it happens, the passage in the Liberty site which states "For example if you can show that the CCTV camera is being pointed deliberately at your garden so that your neighbour can spy on you this will come under the DPA. If this is the case, you should make a complaint to the Information Commissioner by telephoning 01625 545 740 for more information.", is at odds with what the Information Commissioners spokesperson has previously informed me in an interview.

Domestic / residential is exempt, end of ... if the suggested scenario were reported to the Commissioner, then they'd just as likely say that it's outside of the DPA and it should be reported to the "appropriate authorities", which is of course, the chaps in blue.

I'd have to agree with you that finding a police officer that is up to speed on what little relevant legislation there is, can be only slightly less difficult than finding the holy grail.

I have been asked on previous occasions to provide an opinion on cameras which were thought to have been installed in order to cause a deliberate harassment, and generally speaking, if it can be demonstrated that there are alternative or even preferable locations that better serve the owners stated requirement to provide security for their property, then it isn't usually that difficult to persuade the authorities that the camera/s should be relocated or even removed.

Unfortunately, persistent offenders will often take the camera down under police request, and then put it back up a week or two later, in a slightly different but equally offensive location.

The recourse to civil law / injunctions, is of course a viable option, but only for those that can afford to take that route.

If you do come across any specific case law / authorities luggsey, I for one would be very interested to read them; and if I come across anything useful, I'll post them here.

Happy hunting

Jon

[luggsey]

Be gentle with me luggsey, I'd just had a 19 hour day and that was my third one this week, so even I'm allowed to get confused occasionally, especially at my age

As it happens, the passage in the Liberty site which states "For example if you can show that the CCTV camera is being pointed deliberately at your garden so that your neighbour can spy on you this will come under the DPA. If this is the case, you should make a complaint to the Information Commissioner by telephoning 01625 545 740 for more information.", is at odds with what the Information Commissioners spokesperson has previously informed me in an interview.

Domestic / residential is exempt, end of ... if the suggested scenario were reported to the Commissioner, then they'd just as likely say that it's outside of the DPA and it should be reported to the "appropriate authorities", which is of course, the chaps in blue.

I'd have to agree with you that finding a police officer that is up to speed on what little relevant legislation there is, can be only slightly less difficult than finding the holy grail.

I have been asked on previous occasions to provide an opinion on cameras which were thought to have been installed in order to cause a deliberate harassment, and generally speaking, if it can be demonstrated that there are alternative or even preferable locations that better serve the owners stated requirement to provide security for their property, then it isn't usually that difficult to persuade the authorities that the camera/s should be relocated or even removed.

Unfortunately, persistent offenders will often take the camera down under police request, and then put it back up a week or two later, in a slightly different but equally offensive location.

The recourse to civil law / injunctions, is of course a viable option, but only for those that can afford to take that route.

If you do come across any specific case law / authorities luggsey, I for one would be very interested to read them; and if I come across anything useful, I'll post them here.

Happy hunting

Jon

I think I'll have to ask big bruv, he's doing a law degree so he knows Tort pretty well, case law is the only thing I can think of right now so I'll keep looking.

[luggsey]

Here's an update on home CCTV, I had the local crime prevention officer round to see me today to have a look at my CCTV system after a complaint from a neighbour....had to happen! We have an on going complaint about drains!!! So they are complaining to all authorities now about anything they can.....

He looked at my cameras and agreed with me that what I am doing is within the law (and the spirit of it):

Camera pointing at your own vehicle outside your property is ok as long as the camera angle is suitable to restrict the veiw of surrounding areas as much as possible. I don't record anything outside the property so DPA rules don't apply.

Camera looking at your own gate from your property is ok, background is not important if it is unavoidable while looking at the gate, in my installation I have masked off the view above the gate where my neighbours house is as I had that ability. This is recorded . All access video intercom systems point outside your property anyway?

Movement sensors are recomended (as I have installed) to let us know when anybody is outside our gate. I will link this to alarm presets on the camera later on.

I told the crime prevention officer I am going to upgrade the existing cheapo P&T to a PTZ using only presets (No keyboard) so I could do away with three cameras and have just one, he agreed it was a good idea. The lack of a keyboard I felt removed the risk of being accused of pointing it where I should not.

Where I park my car (away from our house the other side of a lane) I fitted a wireless movement sensor, this is what my neighbour complained about recently, crime prevention recomended fitting a camera as well and said what I was doing was what they would have recomended all along!

If a domestic CCTV system is installed and used in the correct way there should be no official problem with it, the Human Rights Act does not apply to households, the DPA rules don't apply if the recordings are on your own property and only supplied to the police and nobody else. The police can judge that a CCTV camera may be installed to hararras a neighbour in which case they could prosacute the owner.

luggsey 1

Neighbours 0

[NitroN]

Hi All,

Here are some interesting links

http://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/reports/pdf...ance_report.pdf

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/lib...vfinal_2301.pdf

Q: My neighbour has CCTV cameras overlooking my property. Is this in breach of the Data Protection Act?

If your neighbour is a private individual e.g. the cameras are on their residential property, it is unlikely that they will be breaching the Data Protection Act because there is an exemption for domestic/household processing of personal data as long as this does not involve putting personal information on a website or otherwise disclosing it to the world at large without good reason. They may however be breaching other legislation, such as the law about harassment or voyeurism, and so may be referred to another body such as the police to investigate.

You can find out more information on our CCTV page.

From: http://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/faqs/data_pro...A2-278DE2D7446C

[Welung666]

Sorry to drag this off topic but I was wondering if anyone is savvy with the UK laws on home CCTV systems and the DPA/Privacy laws. I don't really want to go into details on an open forum but it would be pointless omitting parts as it's all relevant. AFAIK I don't need to register my system with the ICO although it's worth the

[Chorlton]

Sorry to drag this off topic but I was wondering if anyone is savvy with the UK laws on home CCTV systems and the DPA/Privacy laws. I don't really want to go into details on an open forum but it would be pointless omitting parts as it's all relevant. AFAIK I don't need to register my system with the ICO although it's worth the

[Welung666]

Lee you can't PM on this forum until you have made 15 posts.

Join in with forum discussions and as you post count grows past 15 it will enable automatically.

Members can't post contact details either because "off forum" discussion does not benifit the community.

Hope you understand.

C.

Fair enuff on the PM/15 posts thing, however, I'm not prepared to go into the details of my circumstances on a public forum so I'll have to look elsewhere for my answers! I'll call the ICO Monday morning, no point going to my local police as they are part of the problem!

[Doktor Jon]

AFAIK I don't need to register my system with the ICO although it's worth the

[Welung666]

If you want to drop me a line, I'm happy to see if I can point you in the right direction.

10 more posts and I might! edit make that 9!!

[satsuma01]

10 more posts and I might! edit make that 9!!

you could always email me persoanlly at