David,
I read your blog on CCTV Cities and whilst agreeing with the main
thrust of your comments as another police stop action event; viewed
from a privacy and then data protection perspective I perceived the
following: -
1. The use of public area CCTV cameras to intrude into what is
ostensibly the privacy of the home, albeit under the control and
direction of the police following receipt of an emergency call, has to
be regarded with some concern especially when other items currently
being released to the media in the UK which could support such
intrusions on a potentially more simplified (than in the past) and
regular basis are considered together with the wider environmental
pressures currently building yet to be felt in that sphere. The
programme itself went some way to promote CCTV in a benign 'safely
watch over you’ context, with the coverage of the collapsed drunk whom
the operator was watching out for the safety of, until some authority
could arrive.
2. Whilst CCTV Cities did clearly illustrated that the police are
frequently now controlling and directing the use of the public area
CCTV; I do recall originally that codes of practice kept that control
carefully away from the police except in exceptional circumstances,
(where the police could take over a CCTV control room upon a senior
officers authority, replacing all the operators with their own staff.
No court order or judicial oversight was required because of
operational necessities.) Not unexpectedly that does appear to have
changed with a closer more progressive mode of operation seemingly
illustrated.
Ian W
N.B. I did try to register at NCL to respond via the blog but was
unable to.
__________________________________________________________
Free games for a wet weekend - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/play
__________________________________________________________
****************************************************
This is a message from the SURVEILLANCE listserv
for research and teaching in surveillance studies.
To unsubscribe, please send the following message to
<[log in to unmask]>:
UNSUBSCRIBE SURVEILLANCE
For further help, please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help
****************************************************
|