CCTV legal stuff

extrareach

The same old chestnut cameras in around the perimeter of house so domestic not commercial. Not even facing property facing away from property to cover public foot path and right of way to whict the property has no access rights other than everyone else?? three cameras. what are the rules?????

DullGreyGuy

What are they recording? Sound and picture or just picture? Recording all the time or only recording when triggered by movement within your property boundaries?


Sound is a much bigger issue than picture and its harder to justify why recording sound is required to balance the invasion of privacy of your neighbour as whilst you can point the camera so it only looks at your garden it will capture the noise from the neighbours in theirs if close to the boundary. 

As has been seen, this can get expensive https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58911296 

ThisIsWeird

In essence, cameras shouldn't be covering public areas without reasonable cause. And, they MUST have 'CCTV' signs up. And the captured content should not be shared and be deleted after a reasonable time, around a month max. And you mustn't use the content for nefarious reasons.

In general, tho', as long as it doesn't invade privacy - cover someone else's property (again without good cause) - then it's no different to someone sitting there with their phone camera set to record. It's all 'public'.

If it becomes an issue, if it's challenged, then it'll likely come down to a few things - what is the purpose of the recording, and what are you doing with it?

If, say, there has been anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, attempts at break-ins, then I doubt very much that you'll get into trouble - provided you use the content as said above; either delete it if nothing found, or report it to the police/ use it for a civil case if you do. If you, instead, stick it on PooTube, expect repercussions.

If you have any doubt, go on to the ICO website, and use 'chat' - I found them really concise.

Ectophile

The main thing is to make sure your cameras aren't filming other peoples' property.  Be careful which way you point the cameras.  Get cameras with adjustable mounts, then once you've connected them up, go around adjusting them so that they only cover your property or public places.