United Kingdom

[GB] Broadcasting Closed-circuit Footage May Have Privacy Implications

IRIS 1998-1:1/24

David Goldberg

deeJgee Research/Consultancy

The High Court decided on 25 November that it was neither unlawful nor irrational for the owner of a closed-circuit television system (in this case a local authority) to release footage to the media for the purpose of showing how succesful the system was in the prevention and detection of crime. However, the judge recognised that there might be "undesirable invasions of a person's privacy." In this case, a man's face was identified by family and friends as it was inadequately masked. The judge proposed that, until the Europena Convention on Human Rights had been fully incorpoarted into law, reliance should be had on guideance being issued in codes of practice. Such a Code has been published by the Local Government Information Unit.