I read the other day about a RNCOS research report released last month (purchase required) that says the global CCTV market will grow at a compound annual rate of around 14 percent from 2013 to 2017, with network IP emerging as the leading technology.
Among other things, more cameras means more footage. Ely Maspero, product line manager for VMS solutions at March Networks, explained to us at Veridin how domestic laws vary on how long footage must be stored.
Italian laws require companies to keep the video archive for no more than 48 hours, and that can be extended to seven days for some specific deployments, such as banks. North American storage requirements are longer — upwards of 30 to 60 days — whereas Middle Eastern requirements can be as much as 120 days.
His thoughts raise very important questions about domestic privacy laws and public perceptions of CCTV technology. For example, what’s the correlation between the presence of CCTV cameras in a country and people’s acceptance of this sort of surveillance?
What do people know about CCTV?
Several academics at the University of Toronto are probing this issue in a study titled “‘I’ll Be Watching You’: What do Canadians Know About Video Surveillance and Privacy?” They are asking questions like these:
- What do Canadians know about their visual information privacy rights?
- Does information about current technologies and capabilities change people’s perspectives on visual privacy policy?
- What information do people need?
In asking their questions, the academics plan three stages of research: interviews regarding video surveillance, workshops and roundtable discussions on visual information policy, and a Public Forum to promote discussion among stakeholders, including citizens, government agencies, vendors, academics, civil society, and the news media.
I’m looking forward to reading the results and seeing how they correspond to my own experience in the security industry. I’d also like to hear from readers of this blog about connections they see between domestic privacy laws and public acceptance of CCTV.
In Canada, private-sector use of video surveillance is governed by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. This legislation is intended to outline the privacy obligations and responsibilities of private-sector organizations engaging in covert video surveillance.
Surveillance in the news media
I’d also love to hear your thoughts on a related issue: the use of CCTV footage by the news media.
The fact is that CCTV surveillance will factor more prominently in the lives of millions of people over the coming months and years by way of increased use of CCTV footage in news stories. As we saw in the Boston Marathon bombing, news outlets frequently run with images and videos sent in via social media, as well as CCTV images provided by police forces.
This is a positive trend on the whole, in my opinion. But it runs the risk of broadcasting CCTV images (which can sometimes be quite gruesome) without any explanation or context, leading to misinformation.
All of this speaks to a big opportunity for our industry.
Security professionals have important roles to play. We are a voice to be heard in those news stories. We can help explain the role of security and security technology to the general audience with credible perspectives from credible professionals. In other words, by providing expertise, experience, and balance, we can fill voids that reflect poorly on our industry (when and where they exist) in public discussions.
That leads me back to privacy laws and raises one last question. What impact will the rapidly increasing use of social media (of all forms) have on privacy laws as they pertain to security generally and CCTV more specifically?
We all have a stake in answering these questions.
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Very interesting article Colin. In the UK, we have the Data Protection Act and a CCTV Code of Practice from the Information Commissioners Office that cover all forms of CCTV but interesting about mobile phone videos. I presume these Acts & Codes would cover this especially when distributed via the media and/or internet. The CCTV Code of Practice, which assist CCTV specifiers/users to comply with the DPA states “This code provides good practice advice for those involved in operating CCTV and other devices which view or record images of individuals ….. This code covers the use of CCTV and other… Read more »
Privacy has been a big issue and with many social media and other technology developments do come into play you make personalization feature available. That makes privacy comes into play than it used to be in the good old days with the technology.
As far as I’m aware from what Paul mackie form CameraWatch told us your image is protected under data protection laws.
@ Tony – If you are referring to someone recording people in a public space on a mobile phone then in the UK they are entitled to do so with or without consent.
There are of course a large number of caveats to that and of course private properties, or any form of voyeuristic filming is a very different matter, but the basic rule of thumb is that if you are in a public area then you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
That’s interesting Joe and I remember the Police saying on those “Police, Camera, Action” type TV programs that their on-board TV crew are perfectly entitled to film in public areas but they still blur out faces? Plus, we have to provide CCTV notices where our CCTV cameras are viewing public areas so this appears to be a confusing message? If somebody records me on a mobile phone do they have to keep my personal images secure? Can I send them a tenner and they have to release my images to me? Or is it one rule for CCTV cameras and… Read more »
@Robert Brown: True and you have a right to fight for it but how practical is it ? You can do so if you are in the same country but for those who are not in the same country, what will the procedure be ?
Well, it becomes nigh on impossible then. From a simple perspective, think of how images of, say, the Royal Family naked in a Las Vegas hotel, that could be published in some countries, but the ‘home’ media — the UK — refrained from publishing it. Then add in the internet. Cross-border law, whatever we’re talking about, is always complicated.
Sounds odd to me too, Tony. I suppose it’s because legislation struggles to keep up with technology?
A nice example is how a journalist in a TV news piece might walk along the street filiming themselves surrounded by crowds of people. None of those sign a release form because they’re in the public, and there’s no focus on them whatsoever. This is a reasonable level of privacy. Whereas, if they interviewed someone they might then ask for permission to be granted for broadcast.
yes, Rob, but a lot of time laws, regulations is a bit behind as technology changing too fast… but you do have a solid point… privacy 🙂
@Robert Brown: Yes you can block it from media but with Internet you cannot limit anything. Anyone can post anything on the internet.