Jennifer Baker reports:
Europe’s top court ruled Thursday that data protection rules apply to private surveillance cameras if they record people on the public footpath.
The regulations in question – the Data Protection Directive – insists personal information can’t be held for longer than necessary, and that consent must be given, and so on, although it’s being rewritten at the moment.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) made its ruling regarding surveillance cameras and the directive following the case of a Czech national, František Ryneš.
Ryneš installed a surveillance camera outside his house after it was repeatedly vandalized. In October 2007, he recorded two suspects breaking a window of the family home using a catapult from the street. He handed the recordings over to the police who identified the two suspects, who were subsequently prosecuted before the criminal courts.
However, one of the suspects said Ryneš had infringed his data protection rights, because he had been recorded without his consent while he was on the public footpath.
Read more on The Register.