CCTV with audio in the UK by 2012

[G-MEN 0]

Interesting read. http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/2011.shtml Installers in the UK will be busy!!

[Thomas in BP 0]

Responding to a future deployment in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office has said the audio cameras would be treated, under law, in the same way as CCTV footage.

 

Under the IOC’s code, audio can be used on the grounds it detects and prevents crime, or apprehends and prosecutes the offenders.

 

Hmm, that sounds really scary, but I can't wait for the first Brit to challenge that on EU level.

 

According to Council of Europe Convention No. 108/1981 it is established quite clearly that "voices and images are considered personal data if they provide information on an individual by making him/her identifiable even if indirectly." In combination with EU Directive 95/46/EC on processing of personal data and, especially, the 'Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union' in which Article 7 explicitly provides protection of "private and family life, home, and communication" I don't really see how they would be able to get away with that...Unless our law makers gets so scared by the big bad terrorists that they strip us for some of the central rights and protections we currently have.

 

In the meantime I will continue to sleep well at night.

 

BTW, who cares about what the IOC's code on audio recording is? They still have to follow UK and EU law regardless of what they do under the London Olympics.

[Cooperman 0]

Here in the U.K., there are many situations where the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act, don't actually offer the protection that they are supposed to, so in effect, there are many opportunities for the use of CCTV, and surveillance systems fitted with audio capability, to fall outside the scope of the legislation.

 

Just to clarify, The Information Commissioner is the regulator / enforcer for Data Protection legislation, so if their office says something does or doesn't apply, you'd have to go a very long way before you'd find anyone prepared to challenge a government department in a court of law