This month we thought we would spend a little time looking at a EU Court of Justice ruling on how data protection law applies to individuals using surveillance cameras to protect their property.
The judgment ruled that a household’s usage of a CCTV camera that filmed both their own driveway and the street outside their house was not covered by the domestic exemption for images recorded of people outside their property.
Clearly this is a significant judgment. Previously the ICO considered the domestic exemption to be quite broad, but the judgment suggests a more narrow interpretation, which could have an effect beyond surveillance cameras.
At present the ICO is talking to the Ministry of Justice about the effects on UK law. They are also considering where the CCTV code of practice might need updating and what guidance members of the public will now need.
This is important for installers of CCTV in domestic premises.
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