Surveillance
Should our democracy require law enforcement officials to get permission from a judge to access public video surveillance records?
Video surveillance is “a technology system of surveillance by cameras which can be chosen, set up and used by public authorities on public places for crime prevention or even crime prosecution. The right to privacy includes the expectation that your activities will not be monitored by the government. Like most rights, privacy has limits. Countries work to balance individual privacy protections against society’s need for safety and security. One proposal for balancing personal privacy with public safety is to require the police to get permission from a judge to look at video records.
Lessons
Resources
Articles and Papers
- Chicago Police Department, Police Observation Devices (PODs)
- The Constitution Project, Guidelines for Public Video Surveillance: A Guide to Protecting Communities and Preserving Civil Liberties (Washington, DC: The Constitution Project, 2007)
- Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Article 8—Right to Respect for Private and Family Life (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1950)
- Electronic Privacy Information Center, Data Retention
- Electronic Privacy Information Center, Video Surveillance
- European Commission, Justice, Freedom, and Security Directorate, Article 29 Data Protection Working Party
- European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Opinion on Video Surveillance in Public Places by Public Authorities and the Protection of Human Rights (Venice, Italy: Adopted 16-17 March 2007)CDL-AD(2007)014
- European Court of Human Rights
- Greenhalgh, Stephen, Literature Review on Issues of Privacy and Surveillance Affecting Social Behaviour, (Alberta, Canada: Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, August 2003)
- Leppard, David, and Jonathan Calvert, Focus Special: The Web of Terror, Times Online (July 15, 2005)
- Maher, Jared Jacang, Smile! You Could Be on the Denver Police Department’s Candid Camera, Westword (June 18, 2009)
- National Association for the Criminal Rehabilitation of Offenders, To CCTV or Not to CCTV? A Review of Current Research into the Effectiveness of CCTV Systems in Reducing Crime (June 28, 2002)
- Observing Surveillance [surveillance cameras in Washington, DC]
- Russian Constitution: Chapter Two, Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen, Articles 23, 24, 25
- Slobogin, Christopher, Public Privacy: Camera Surveillance of Public Places and The Right To Anonymity, Mississippi Law Journal (Vol. 72, 2002)
- Ukraine —Constitution: Article 32 [Privacy]
