Civil liberty campaigners last night warned the move was a worrying expansion of the surveillance state and feared the technology could be open to abuse. A number of local councils have bought the cameras to provide evidence in disputed cases. Wardens are only supposed to switch them on if they believe a confrontation with a motorist is likely.
But Nick Pickles, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “A tiny warning on a badge hardly constitutes telling someone they're being recorded. At the very minimum it should be a legal requirement that the member of staff informs the other person they are being recorded, but in reality it's just another attack on our privacy and treats every member of the public as being under suspicion.
'There is absolutely nothing to stop a council official or someone else with access to the video putting the footage online or releasing it to a third party. Perhaps worse, there is nothing to stop the cameras being activated in inappropriate situations and abused.” Council chiefs say the technology will help protect staff from abusive behaviour and resolve disputes.
3 comments:
Shouldn't be that big a deal. Just watched a real life police show last night where they busted a guy for growing marijuana in his attic and tapped into the mains so he could get free electricity. It was decided by the courts not to pursue charges because of lack of evidence. Somebody is either taking bribes or is smoking the ganj himself.
"'There is absolutely nothing to stop a council official or someone else with access to the video putting the footage online or releasing it to a third party."
Yes there is. It's a little thing called the data protection act. Publishing those videos would be a clear breach of the act punishable by a fine or even jail time.
Before people set themselves up as experts they should do just a little research into their chosen subject. Of course Mr Pickles would be hard to spot in such a video since his face would presumably be covered by his palm.
I'm sad to say it appears the Data Protection Act is basically ignored these days by any organisation with enough clout. Example being the DVLA (the British version of the DMV), who started selling customer data to the highest bidder a few years ago, but never got done for it.
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