You may recall I posed a question to the group with regard to whether a cctv
system could avoid being notified. The opinions were split down the middle. I
therefore wrote to Amanda Chandler at the DPA who had some imput in the
drafting of the policy document on CCTV. Unfortunately Amanda left the DPA
last week for a more lucrative position. The communication has found its way
to the desk of Ben Elliott compliance officer. I had an opportunity to speak
with him last Friday at a seminar organised by Southampton University on DPA
and CCTV (Very interesting and informative) he is of the opinion that all
cctv systems have to be notified. He will when he has the time let me have a
formal response with the arguments as to why. He has given me permission to
reproduce it to the group which I will do upon receipt. The gist of the
argument is :- when you turn the camera on it automatically captures images
which are stored on a tape or disc. Some if not all the images identify a
living human being - personal data - capturing the image is processing,
processing that is done automatically therefore has to be notified. If your
cameras dont pick up images of living humans then no personal data, no
notification. So why have the cameras fire flood? Perhaps.
Chris Brogan
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