Data Protection Act CCTV

Is a CCTV system covered in the Data Protection Act? Let's take a look at the Data Protection Act itself before we answer that. The Data Protection Act states eight basic principles.

These principles protect basic personal data. It protects names, phone numbers, addresses, previous addresses, images, etc. It also protects sensitive personal data. This includes political affiliations, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, ethnic group, any physical or mental health issues, etc. So that is what the basics of the Data Protection Act are.

After March 2000, when the Data Protection Act went into effect, there was an update made in July of the same year. This had to do with CCTV (closed circuit television). The courts said that for information to relate to an individual, it had to affect their privacy. They also set up a few guidelines to help with this. First a person had to be the focus of the information. Second the information has to tell you something significant about them. Think about the image being personal information.

For businesses that use their CCTV for recording only and not for their own personal use it might get a little confusing if their CCTV is covered in the Data Protection Act. If a business is zooming in and out trying to see what certain individuals are doing at the moment they are trying to obtain personal information about that person. If the business is following around staff members for the owners personal use such as checking on their behavior. Or if a business gives any recorded images of an individual to a third party that is not a law enforcement. These are all ways that you CCTV is not covered by the Data Protection Act.

Keeping everything legal with a CCTV system may be hard for some businesses. Sometimes a smaller business is not covered under the Data Protection Act. There are websites that a business should look at before deciding how to approach this issue. There are many companies that are there to answer all questions about what the legal aspects of a CCTV and the Data Protection Act. They must remember that they are taking someone's image for their own use. Signs must be posted to ensure that individuals know they are being taped. With a little research and knowledge of a CCTV system and the Data Protection Act, business can make informed decisions to protect themselves.