CCTV industry set to benefit from introduction of EU’s General Data Protection Regulation
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force next May, will require a wholesale reassessment of data protection for the UK’s 5.9 million CCTV cameras, which to date have benefited from relatively light touch regulation. In tandem, the GDPR will enable the sector to enhance its public image and create opportunities for new valued-added services. That’s according to a White Paper from cloud-based video surveillance company Cloudview.
Cloudview asked Andrew Charlesworth, Reader in IT Law at the University of Bristol, to examine the impact of the changing nature of data privacy regulation on the CCTV industry. The resulting White Paper, entitled ‘Watching The Watchers’, shows how changing technology has altered both the data protection environment and public perceptions of what’s acceptable to protect privacy, and goes on to explain how it creates opportunities for providers to offer enhanced value services.
As stated, there are almost six million CCTV cameras surveilling the UK’s homes, schools, businesses and public spaces, all of which will come under the jurisdiction of the GDPR. The White Paper points out that UK regulation has been relatively light touch until now, using recent court cases to show how current legislation has been applied. It explains the key changes that will be required as the GDPR alters the focus of data protection from one on compliance to one centred around accountability. As the new regulation coincides with a transition to new IP and cloud-based CCTV systems, so it creates both opportunities and risks.