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Majority of UK's CCTV cameras 'are illegal'
by Tim Hall, 2007/05/31
this raises an interesting point for me, someone who is always interested in the UK's slow but steady slide towards totalitarianism. the news piece, in a wonderful bit of doublespeak/doublethink, praises cameras as a crime fighting/info gathering tool but warns that the evidence they acquire may be thrown out of court. essentially this boils down to two points, for the cynic like me who fears the worst about governments...
1. cameras == doubleplusgood
2. courts == possible source of trouble
now this can go a few ways...
either the "minister of privacy" or whatever the heck the UK has going on will do some sort of "let's fix the system before the courts get swamped" routine which will (if other nations, including ours, are any example) consist of basically sweeping changes to law as opposed to policy. this will result in less actual privacy but also less legal challenges.
or (the real horror story, as if that first scenario isn't bad enough) government will increase its use of shadow techniques and extra-judicial operations in pursuit of their aims. i.e. - using cameras to do whatever they want and cracking down on people without due process when they fear that civilian courts will throw out evidence.
by Tim Hall, 2007/05/31
The vast majority of Britain's CCTV cameras are operating illegally or in breach of privacy guidelines, a new watchdog has warned.
Up to 90 per cent of surveillance cameras may be breaching the Information Commissioner's code of practice laid down to stop cameras being used inappropriately.
Even more seriously, a large proportion of the UK's 14.2 million cameras breach the Data Protection Act and so are illegal, the watchdog CameraWatch warned.
The illegality of many cameras will lead to future clashes in court and possible acquittals of suspects, predicted the organisation's chairman Gordon Ferrie.
Up to 90 per cent of surveillance cameras may be breaching the Information Commissioner's code of practice laid down to stop cameras being used inappropriately.
Even more seriously, a large proportion of the UK's 14.2 million cameras breach the Data Protection Act and so are illegal, the watchdog CameraWatch warned.
The illegality of many cameras will lead to future clashes in court and possible acquittals of suspects, predicted the organisation's chairman Gordon Ferrie.
1. cameras == doubleplusgood
2. courts == possible source of trouble
now this can go a few ways...
either the "minister of privacy" or whatever the heck the UK has going on will do some sort of "let's fix the system before the courts get swamped" routine which will (if other nations, including ours, are any example) consist of basically sweeping changes to law as opposed to policy. this will result in less actual privacy but also less legal challenges.
or (the real horror story, as if that first scenario isn't bad enough) government will increase its use of shadow techniques and extra-judicial operations in pursuit of their aims. i.e. - using cameras to do whatever they want and cracking down on people without due process when they fear that civilian courts will throw out evidence.
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