Andrew Rennison, the UK’s first surveillance camera commissioner, has said the government plans to set up new rules covering the private use of CCTV systems.
A growing number of homeowners have set up CCTV systems on their properties, and there are currently no rules governing the use of such private CCTV cameras.
In the wake of the government’s newly-launched public code of practice for public CCTV systems – devised on the principal of ‘surveillance by consent’ – it could follow up with new rules for private systems.
Whitehall sources claim complaints about privacy are on the increase and Rennison told the Daily Telegraph that, while such private CCTV systems are put up for “very good reasons”, they are on the government’s agenda due to the upset they can cause.
He said: “I will probably, in the next year or so, be publishing guidance to help people with that because although it is outside of the code of practice I think it is an area where people do want further advice.”
“What concerns me is the upset it can cause other people and I … expect to receive complaints from people about inappropriate use of CCTV, but I suspect the highest number of complaints I receive will be from private users or people who have neighbours using private systems,” Rennison added.
“I want to make sure that people have access to the best advice so they can work out how to run their systems.”
