CCTV

[LDN 0]

Hi, I am wanting to try and recover some digitally deleted CCTV footage from the council. They have said it has been digitally deleted, is there any chance of recovering it?

 

Thanks for any help.

[SectorSecurity 0]

In all my years working computer forensics and installing CCTV I have never had someone tell me something has been digitally deleted. Its either deleted or its not.

 

Now someone may tell me it has been overwritten but that is a different story.

 

Recovery is usually possible, depending on the operating system and the file system in use on the drive.

[spyindiaankur 0]

Hi, I am wanting to try and recover some digitally deleted CCTV footage from the council. They have said it has been digitally deleted, is there any chance of recovering it?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Digitally deleted I too could not understand it. Things are either deleted manually or thorugh already installed software. If the taken footage were not as per council standards then it might be difficult to recover them back.

[ilk 0]

Hi, I am wanting to try and recover some digitally deleted CCTV footage from the council. They have said it has been digitally deleted, is there any chance of recovering it?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Two issues here that need to be considered.

 

Technical - As Sector has quite rightly indicated, data recorded onto hard disks and then overwritten can mostly be recovered, however the costs for this can be very expensive and unlikely to be undertaken unless it relates to cases of high importance.

 

Data Protection - I am assuming that you are in the UK and if the stated retention period (typically 30 days) has been exceeded, (and even if the overwritten data can be recovered) the Council would not be able to release the video as they would be in breach of their Code of Practice and the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Ilkie

[LDN 0]

Hi thank you for all your replies,

 

I have previously emailed the council to ask if they still have footage, this is part of the reply I received :

 

"X City Council only keeps CCTV footage for 30 days and then it is digitally

deleted. Therefore, on this occasion the Council is unable to assist you further on this

matter. "

 

What information or what would you recommend to do, the footage that is needed is from 2009, is it still possible to get it from back then.

 

Thanks

[tomcctv 190]

Hi thank you for all your replies,

 

I have previously emailed the council to ask if they still have footage, this is part of the reply I received :

 

"X City Council only keeps CCTV footage for 30 days and then it is digitally

deleted. Therefore, on this occasion the Council is unable to assist you further on this

matter. "

 

What information or what would you recommend to do, the footage that is needed is from 2009, is it still possible to get it from back then.

 

Thanks

 

 

No even just by the date footage would not be available to you.

 

And as far as digitally removed ..... 2009 either means no hard drive (as 5 years old) but more likely it's not the same system.

 

 

Sound like you have done a public request for this footage

 

30 days is max in the uk for public space.

 

But footage from 5 years could not be used for anything now

[ilk 0]

Hi thank you for all your replies,

 

I have previously emailed the council to ask if they still have footage, this is part of the reply I received :

 

"X City Council only keeps CCTV footage for 30 days and then it is digitally

deleted. Therefore, on this occasion the Council is unable to assist you further on this

matter. "

 

What information or what would you recommend to do, the footage that is needed is from 2009, is it still possible to get it from back then.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

No even just by the date footage would not be available to you.

 

And as far as digitally removed ..... 2009 either means no hard drive (as 5 years old) but more likely it's not the same system.

 

 

Sound like you have done a public request for this footage

 

30 days is max in the uk for public space.

 

But footage from 5 years could not be used for anything now

 

Agreed,

 

Both on the technical level and regulatory and under Data Protection legislation, you will be unable to obtain this video clip.

 

In the UK, 30 days is generally the maximum retention period for all CCTV (except residential, where no rules apply).

 

The Data Protection Act states that data (in this case video) should retained for the minimum amount of time that still meets the reason for installation. It is very difficult to justify the retention of video for longer periods than this, so if the operational requirement can be fully met with a retention of 7 days, this will be the retention limit for this system.

 

Specialist systems such as Police ANPR (currently 2 years), ATM surveillance etc has a slightly different approach to retention.

 

When video is retained by the Criminal Justice System for investigation, prosecution or following conviction, this activity lies outside this piece of legislation, (other rules apply).

 

Interestingly in the US there is a small number of States that are proposing the maximum retention of ANPR data for 3 minutes!

 

Ilkie

[Numb-nuts 1]

Lets face facts, if they wanted you to have the footage you would have it by now.

The letter sounds like they are making an excuse that cannot be challenged because it doesn't make sense.

Digitally deleted is a made-up term by some official that doesn't know what they are talking about but wants

to put you off taking the matter further. I too haven't heard this term before, it makes no sense at all.

 

For something to be treated digitally it must exist before and after treatment. The only way to delete data is to overwrite it with zeros and even then a forensic analysis may still recover it.

[LDN 0]

Thanks for your replies. I don't know alot about cctv.

 

So there is no chance of recovering data from 2009. It is really important that if it is possible to try it.

 

Would it be worth questionng about why the say it has been digitally deleted?

[tomcctv 190]

Thanks for your replies. I don't know alot about cctv.

 

So there is no chance of recovering data from 2009. It is really important that if it is possible to try it.

 

Would it be worth questionng about why the say it has been digitally deleted?

 

 

 

WOW ...... It was 2009 it's law not to hold information that long

 

You could question why if you like ... You need to go court and make a subject request that will cost you money.

 

Other reasons why the data is pointless to you ........ It is to old to use anyway ........ Is it something legal you need .... Old case ???

 

If it something you need to use again in court ........ It is to old it can not be used in a uk court

 

Another regulation apart from storage ........ Is images used have to be fit for purpose ....... 2009 I should think not

[LDN 0]

Thanks for the reply,

 

I have emailed the council asking what they mean by digitally deleting something. When they reply I will copy it so you can see what they mean by it.

[LDN 0]

Hi, this is the reply that I received from the council today,

 

"It means that the CCTV system is set up to automatically delete footage

after 30 days. It is not deleted manually."

[tomcctv 190]

Hi, this is the reply that I received from the council today,

 

"It means that the CCTV system is set up to automatically delete footage

after 30 days. It is not deleted manually."

 

 

 

They will just tell you anything .......... It is pointless them going into detail with you.

 

A monitoring station ........ Will never talk about there system.

 

 

But again 5 years ago ........ In the uk the recorder then would not be getting used now.

 

 

Ilk ...... Installs and designs council systems and public space and he has been doing it for years just the same as us.

 

Even to the point if you give area either of us can tell you when a new system was installed and .......if it is in council control. (Which most are not now)

[LDN 0]

Hi thanks for the replies.

 

Basically, the police did not collect CCTV properly when they should have done ( not getting it at the right time etc) which has had disastrous consequences. Any CCTV footage or any chance or recovering it would be such an enormous help.

 

The council is Manchester council and want to get it from the Oxford Road area, Piccadilly area and the city center. Have asked what system was been used, will post it up when they reply.

 

Thanks

[LDN 0]

Hi,

 

I am going to ask a bar if it would be possible to try retrieve footage from their system from 2009, does anyone know of any companies/ anyone that would be able to do this?

 

Regards

[tomcctv 190]

Hi,

 

I am going to ask a bar if it would be possible to try retrieve footage from their system from 2009, does anyone know of any companies/ anyone that would be able to do this?

 

Regards

 

 

Bar ???

 

 

If and it's a BIG if,..... It might be possible but only by a special company. And just for them to try you are looking at. Big money

 

And you pay if it can be done or not.

 

 

You have to understand you are looking at footage from 5 years ago.

 

That makes the system at the least 5 years old or by know it could be 10 years.

 

The make and age and what format will also be a big problem

 

 

But what you are not understanding is a hard drive has a life limit and are replaced.

 

Or in Manchester police used to take hard drive out of a dvr and insert a clean drive.

 

 

There is two other options you could try. .... But PM me and I'll give you those options

[LDN 0]

Thanks for reply.

 

A drinking establishment, as far as I am aware it is not a chain company.

[kevinstead 0]

Good day

I have been thinking about installing cctv at my home but have heard from my friend next door that they burn out easily? Can anybody tell me why and under what circumstances these cameras can burn out? Thanks

[buellwinkle 0]

What does he mean, that they fail after a short time. Maybe there's something wrong with the power supplies and burning the cameras out.

 

We had analog systems in for 10 years and I prayed for them to fail so I can replace them with IP cameras, LOL. Also the brand you buy makes a difference. Low cost cameras, say under $100 that people find on eBay or even some name brands like Foscam, it has been my personal experience that you are doing good if you get an year out of them. Stepping up to commercial grade cameras makes a big difference in reliability and prices have been dropping, better products every year and I even have megapixel cameras that are 4 years old that still work, again, wishing they would die so I can justify upgrading to newer stuff.

 

To me three good brands that should last you and are a good bang for the buck, at least for IP cameras is ACTi, Dahua and Hikvision.