On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:08:02 GMT, Mark Evans
wrote:

But Gareth Crossman from Liberty said: " Not many people know that if their
camera looks onto public or a neighbour's property they are bound by the
data protection act and they must comply with some very severe
restrictions."

Gareth Crossman is obviously woefully ignorant of the DPA. Private

Maybe HM Governemnt could ammend the act such that before any corporate
representative refers to if they much first actually have read it.

domestic use is *not* required to comply with the DPA.

It might be argued that filiming somone elses private property is
outside this exemption in the act, but you'd need to actually convince a
judge.

No, the law is perfectly clear on this issue - a private individual
may put up CCTV cameras on domestic property that point wherever he
wants, whether his own property, public property or his neighbour's
property. A neighbour *could* complain that it constitutes harassment
and that would need to be judged on its own merit based on the exact
circumstances - but you could not be charged with an offence unless
you failed to move the camera after you had been told that it was
causing harassment.

If the camera were sited such that it captured images of people
undressing in a place that they reasonably expected to be private,
*and* it could be shown that the images were being obtained for the
purpose of sexual gratification, then it would fall foul of the sexual
offences Act.

And obviously if you live opposite a military base, airport or other
sensitive installation, there may be restrictions regarding
photographing such places.

--
Cynic