Private security cameras are everywhere. And all too often their use violates data protection. So what needs to be considered?
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As a dash cam, in a smartphone or on house walls for surveillance: cameras are omnipresent in public spaces. They resolve moving images so well that people can still be recognized when they are far away. The cameras are sometimes so tiny that manufacturers can install them almost invisibly in any device.
If bystanders unknowingly come into view of a camera, this can violate rights. On the one hand, it is about personal rights, i.e. the right to control over one’s own image. On the other hand, every recording of people who can be identified in the pictures based on any characteristics is a collection of personal data in the sense of data protection law.
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The European data protection supervisory authorities therefore take the term “video surveillance” very broadly. In an orientation guide, the Data Protection Conference (DSK), a joint body of the German authorities, defined it as follows: “Video surveillance occurs when personal data is processed with the help of optical-electronic devices. This term not only covers commercially available surveillance cameras, but any devices that be used for longer-term observation and thus for a surveillance purpose.”
