The UK has more CCTV cameras per person than anywhere else in the world and the use of CCTV raises data protection and wider privacy concerns. It can be used in intrusive ways to put ordinary individuals under surveillance as they go about their everyday lives. Because of this, it's an area in which we've always taken a great deal of interest. We have issued guidance to help organisations who use CCTV to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and to help them inspire public confidence that they are using CCTV responsibly.
Images of people are covered by the Data Protection Act, and so is information about people which is derived from images – for example, vehicle registration numbers. Most uses of CCTV by organisations or businesses will be covered by the Act, regardless of the number of cameras or how sophisticated the equipment is.
The Data Protection Act does not apply to individuals’ private or household purposes. So if you install a camera on your own home to protect it from burglary, the Act will not apply.
We have published the following guidance to help organisations using CCTV to stay within the law:
CCTV code of practice 2008 (PDF)
CCTV code of practice 2008 (HTML)
This updated version of our code of practice provides guidance and advice for CCTV users on how to comply with the Data Prtotection Act and also includes a simple checklist for users of very limited CCTV systems where the full provisions of the code would be too detailed.
If you are still uncertain or have any other questions, please contact us.