Tindall CCTV Verdict Highlights Image Theft

Video Surveillance images of rugby star Mike Tindall out drinking with some of his England teammates in a Queenstown bar made front pages around the world in 2011.

The surveillance images were taken in the midst of England’s uninspiring 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign in an eight-day break between matches against Argentina and Georgia. Players were given a night off by then-coach Martin Johnson, who later defended his player’s behaviour, saying, “Rugby player drinks beer, shocker.”

The surveillance images were of particular interest to tabloid newspapers as they showed Tindall — who weeks before had married the Queen’s Granddaughter Zara Phillips — getting uncomfortably close (for Buckingham Palace) to a blonde woman in the bar.

But almost two years after the images were leaked and posted on YouTube, a New Zealand bouncer has been sentenced to four months of home detention and 300 hours of community service for stealing the images and trying to sell them to British newspapers.

Jonathon Dixon was sentenced last week after jurors found him guilty of theft when he accessed the nightclub’s computer and downloaded the images without any right to do so.

Click here to view Figure 1.

He then reportedly sought as much as GB pound 1.3 million from newspapers for the images, but when none of them expressed any interest — presumably because they were aware that the images could only have been obtained illegally, without justification — he instead posted the video to YouTube.

Of course, the media cannot be held up as having showed complete integrity over the use of the images. Although he may not have received any cash for the images, The Sun printed them alongside the headline “Mike Tindall gropes blonde: Zara’s hubby puts head in girl’s boobs at dwarf-throwing contest”.

A separate set of pictures showing players, including Tindall and Chris Ashton, were posted on Facebook under the heading Mad Midget Weekender: Leprechaun Wars, the final ingredient in what ranks high in the annals of bizarre sporting stories. These however were not from video surveillance cameras.

Rules on Controlling CCTV images

Regulations issued by New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner on the use of CCTV surveillance images are clear in their interpretation:

In the Privacy Act, principles 10 and 11 say that you may only use or disclose personal information [i.e., surveillance images] for the purpose you collected it, or for a directly related purpose.

It’s fair to say that capturing images of England rugby stars cavorting with blondes and midgets was probably not the intended purpose of the surveillance cameras in question.

The New Zealand guidelines are similar in tone and content to those issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK, covered by the Data Protection Act. Additionally, the ICO’s CCTV code of practice states:

Recorded material should be stored in a way that maintains the integrity of the image. This is to ensure that the rights of individuals recorded by the CCTV system are protected and that the material can be used as evidence in court. To do this you need to carefully choose the medium on which the images are stored, and then ensure that access is restricted.

The last part of this paragraph is crucial; businesses have to ensure that access to stored video surveillance images is restricted. In practice this could mean a physical restriction, such as a locked room that only specific individuals have access to, or a password-restricted computer. Ideally, one would use a combination of the two, but that may not always be possible.

Of course, there are other rules in different parts of the world. We would recommend you seek the appropriate guidance for the use and control of surveillance images in whatever territory you are using or installing equipment. However, the ICO’s guidance pursuant to the Data Protection Act is a good place to start.

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