CCTV And Data Protection

The UK has more security cameras per person than any other country in the world and is therefore regarded as the leading user of CCTV. In general the public support the use of this technology but they do compromise the privacy of ordinary peoples everyday lives which raises privacy concerns. The general public expect CCTV surveillance systems to be used responsibly with regulations and safeguards in place. The ICO have issued guidance to help organizations who use CCTV to help them comply with the data protection act 1998.

Images of people are covered by the data protection act and so is information about people related to the images such as vehicle registration plates. Most uses of surveillance will be covered by the act regardless of the number of cameras in operation or how sophisticated the equipment is.

The data protection act does not apply to individuals private or CCTV for household purposes. So if you install a camera on your own home to protect it from burglary the act will not apply.

Please click on this link to load the ICO CCTV Code Of Practice 2008

The ICO updated code of practice provides advice and guidance for CCTV users on how to comply with the data protection act and also includes a straight forward checklist for users of very basic CCTV security systems where the full provisions of the code would be too detailed.