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'Big rise' in complaints about domestic CCTV cameras, Data Protection Commissioner says

Helen Dixon said domestic CCTV is “an issue that really bothers people”.

THERE HAS BEEN a “big rise” in the number of complaints relating to CCTV cameras outside peoples’ homes, the Data Protection Commissioner has said.

Helen Dixon told TheJournal.ie in an interview that domestic CCTV is “an issue that really bothers people”. 

“We’ve seen a big rise in complaints from individuals whose neighbours have installed CCTV cameras that are trained beyond the perimeter of the neighbour’s home,” Dixon said. 

And of course, that’s not permitted in data protection terms. The cameras should be trained within the perimeter of your own home.

She said if they are trained beyond this, people acquire “the full obligations of a data controller”. 

If a CCTV camera is used solely by the people living in the home and doesn’t capture a public space or a neighbour’s property, it isn’t subject to these obligations. 

However, if a person publishes their footage online or share it on social media they may be subject to the obligations of a data controller. 

Any person or organisation that collects and processes peoples’ personal data is considered a data controller, according to the DPC.

The ‘personal data’ in this instance is a video recording in which people can be identified. 

Asked about other common complaints her office has dealt with in recent months, Dixon said there had been a lot of contacts from employees “feeling that they’re being monitored electronically” by their employers. 

“Often there are much broader issues in the dispute, but what comes to us is using CCTV in disciplinary processes, introducing turnstile tracking systems and then using the clock-in clock-out information in disciplinary processes and monitoring of employees through electronic means.”

Dixon said the DPC this year wants to “give clearer guidance” on any confusion about what constitutes a breach of data protection law in these instances. 

Twitter fine

On 15 December, the DPC imposed a €450,000 fine on Twitter in a landmark ruling over a violation of EU data privacy rules.

The ruling related to an incident publicly disclosed in early 2019 where a security glitch had made some users’ private tweets public, and Twitter failed to send a breach notification to the DPC within 72 hours of its discovery, as is required under GDPR.

It was the first major fine issued by the regulator to a US tech giant for a breach of GDPR. 

Dixon said the legal analysis behind this case was “much more significant” than the fine itself. 

“I think what will truly deter and guide organisations to not falling into the same issues as Twitter did, is by reading the legal analysis in the decision, just as much as the fine will act as a deterrent.

A lot of people commenting on it appear to have misunderstood that the significance of that Twitter decision is the fine and of course, it’s not particularly.

“The fine is just an end result of the much more significant legal analysis and infringements that are in the decision.”

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    Mute Will Bourke
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:16 AM

    Meanwhile people can wander within the perimeter of your property looking into cars, stealing catalitic convertors etc. and possible break into your house. Camera’s serve as a deterrent

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    Mute Atlas' burden
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    Jan 7th 2021, 9:53 AM

    @Will Bourke: my neighbours have CCTV in the front and back of their house. It covers my gardens and the road in, so I’m happy enough with it.

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    Mute Maalouf
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    Jan 7th 2021, 12:10 PM

    @Will Bourke: my neighbour had his pointing in my bedroom window. Told him to redirect it or I will redirect it. He didn’t. So I smashed it off the wall with a baseball bat.

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    Mute Life in no motion
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    Jan 7th 2021, 1:04 PM

    @Maalouf: I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but….

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    Mute Hugh Mc Donnell
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:20 AM

    And yet gardai ask for or examine cctv or dash cam footage from the public on a regular basis.

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    Mute Mickety Dee
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:20 AM

    @Hugh Mc Donnell: Giving footage to the Gardai is not the same as publishing it online

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    Mute Bennett blaster
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    Jan 7th 2021, 11:27 AM

    @Hugh Mc Donnell: when it suits them

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    Mute Adam Conroy
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:22 AM

    Good luck enforcing that on people’s private property. Are they also going to force every driver with a dash camera to register on some database. Generally speaking, unenforceable laws are not a good thing.

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    Mute Type17
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:55 AM

    @Adam Conroy: Read the article again – you have no responsibilities as a data controller if your (CCTV) cameras don’t cover any areas outside your own property, and if you do capture any public areas (Dashcam), there are no responsibilities, once you don’t publish them online.

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    Mute Adam Conroy
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:16 AM

    @Type17: problem is that it’s unenforceable. There’s no point having an unenforceable law.

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    Mute John Meade
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    Jan 7th 2021, 9:17 AM

    @Adam Conroy: well it is enforceable, if your neighbour has a cctv camera and say it records your children for example, then your neighbour posts footage online, you can then report it for breaking GDPR rules, they if they are not not recording on their property have to protect your data and do not have the right to share it publicly, same can go for dash cams, their purpose is to show who is to blame for an accident, everything caught in between should not be shared publicly

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:55 AM

    What about google, facebook & co and the mass collection of personal data through the use of cookies and browser fingerprinting? What about forced consent from the majority of Irish website?
    All manipulating people behaviours…

    Don’t they affects far more people than domestic CCTV?

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:53 AM

    There is some difference though: google, facebook and co have deep pockets to avoid fines or stop the unlawful procesing through lobbying, whereas the punter who will post on social media hasn’t. And just for clarification, I am not in favour of either.

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    Mute Pat ALTHEA
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    Jan 7th 2021, 9:00 AM

    @Claude Saulnier: you give them permission…thats the difference

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 9:10 AM

    @Pat ALTHEA: no you don’t. It is forced on people. Only a handful of cookie banners offer a proper choice. And you certainly don’t give permission for browser finger printing.

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    Mute Clare McAfee
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:43 AM

    This is really difficult to police, nevermind the fact that devices such as video doorbells are often not secure and anyone can access footage if they really wanted to.

    The only thing you can do regarding monitoring footage itself is set zones for your property only, so the device only records if someone enters the zone you’ve set along your property boundary. Personally I wouldn’t be without a device monitoring my home, especially when I was living on my own.

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:59 AM

    @Clare McAfee: The issue is the posting of material publicly or sharing it.
    Also, a different issue, be aware a lot of this tech can easily be hacked or accessed by third parties (for CCTV in IP networks). Due dilligence is required and passwords need to be changed for a start.

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    Mute Clare McAfee
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    Jan 7th 2021, 5:06 PM

    @Claude Saulnier: I agree. But if anyone is dumb enough to walk onto my property and steal from me, they can expect their mug to be plastered on FB!

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 6:48 PM

    @Clare McAfee: that is not the right approach. The gardai are here to police, even if Mark Zuckerberg tells you otherwise.

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    Mute Golden Steph
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:53 AM

    Imagine having cameras that can face into your own home and garden and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. Peeping Tom’s wet dream.
    Sounds like an absolute nightmare.

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    Mute Cosmos20202020
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    Jan 7th 2021, 8:11 PM

    @Golden Steph: sure everyone has a camera on their phone and can record in public with no issue…

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    Mute Magoo
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    Jan 7th 2021, 10:26 AM

    Can the DC please review facecbooks latest ultimatum on watsapp that came out today.

    Accept the sharing of your personal data phone book and phone no with all Facebook businesses or delete the app.

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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 12:03 PM

    @Magoo: Currently Facebook processes a lot of data without a proper lawful basis and no one cares, so preventing the re-purpose of personal data for further unlawful profiling would be too much to ask. I don’t see any Regulator having the teeth to tackle.
    Hopefully one day the EU will have a central EU data protection regulator for the big tech companies, away from the one stop shop.

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    Mute marian doherty
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    Jan 7th 2021, 12:01 PM

    We have cctv three front different angles and two back garden, our car is parked main road so keep an eye on it, do t be bothered WhT the neighbours are up to! We’ve had them knock in when broken into to look at footage and had garda here a few times to use it for evidence , you can’t win.

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    Mute RogersRabbit
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:16 AM

    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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    Mute Ajax Penumbra
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    Jan 7th 2021, 7:47 AM

    @RogersRabbit: I dunno… coast guard?

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    Mute WreckDefier
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    Jan 7th 2021, 9:53 PM

    @Ajax Penumbra: Nah, a custard diet for himself and others

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    Mute Tim Higgins
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    Jan 7th 2021, 11:32 AM

    Lasers people, lasers.

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    Mute Joed
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    Jan 7th 2021, 1:59 PM

    What about people filming peoples property with their phones is that allowed .

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    Mute Jim O Brien Tech
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    Jan 7th 2021, 4:03 PM

    Mobile phones next. . Dixon is all talk an no action.

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