CCTV and GDPR: A privacy challenge
Organisations use CCTV recording to prevent crime, ensure health and safety and monitor the workplace. When it comes to privacy and data protection rights, there has been much discussion. Privacy plays a crucial role in the exercise of many other rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of religion.
Any CCTV system that monitors or records the activities of individuals constitutes the processing of personal data under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
You will find that Chief Data Officers at local councils post their Council’s fair processing policies, such as this typical example from The City of Westminster right alongside are subject access request (SAR) forms for anyone who wants to know what personal data is kept and how it is used. Check out our guide to CCTV video redaction and GDPR compliance strategies.
Subject access requests and data privacy
As with any other form of personal data, data subjects have a right to access their own data. If you are preparing data for disclosure arising from a data subject access request you will need to ensure that by supplying the footage you do not disclose the personal data of any other third parties. This requires blurring parts of the footage such as faces and licence plates.
Under GDPR, the information must be provided to the data subject free of charge and the footage must be supplied within 30 days of your receipt of the request.
Organisations should follow video surveillance regulations and best practice for CCTV privacy compliance, including:
Ensuring people know they are being recorded
Stating clearly why CCTV is being used
Controlling who is accessing CCTV footage
Deleting footage when it is no longer required
You can find out more in our guide to video surveillance best practices.
Efficient solutions for video redaction compliance
Identity Cloak enables organisations to mask the identities of all but the data subject and/or persons of interest in minutes. Our auto redaction software provides the ideal solution to meet strict deadlines and reduce the high costs of outsourced editing services or lengthy manual processes. It can also redact in real-time, so operators cannot view confidential or private information.
Visit our CCTV anonymisation software to protect personal privacy page to find out more.
