Video Cameras

[pixie374]

Could anyone please tell me- is it legal in the UK to film someone in their own home, without their knowledge or agreement?
Thank you.... x

[Gizmonster]

I don't know the answer, but I'll ask, just in case anyone else is wondering:
When you say "is it legal in the UK to film someone in their own home" ..... do you mean "is it legal for you to film another person in your home" ..... or do you mean "is it legal for you to film another person in their own home"??
I'm assuming it's the first, but it is slightly ambiguous ..... and I'm also curious to the answer, so I'll now sit back and wait for "expert" replies :)

[pixie374]

Thanks giz- video cameras in their own homes, without them knowing.

[Gizmonster]

Ah right ..... so I was wrong then, it's the second option, not the first.

I'm no expert, but I'd be surprised if filming someone in their own home without consent was legal .... but what do I know .... let's wait for the experts .....

[Zacs-Master]

‘ Taking photos or videos of someone where there is the expectation of privacy is a breach of privacy laws. Examples of this would be in someone’s home’
https://recordinglaw.com/recording-laws-uk/#video-recording-without-consent-uk

[Buenchico]

That's not necessarily that easy to answer, as (for example) there are different laws relating to CCTV cameras than those relating to, say, press cameramen.

As a general rule (ignoring CCTV for the moment), anyone is free to film who they like, and what they like, as long as they are doing so while in a public place, on their own property or on property where the owner has given permission for photography to take place. (I'm ignoring complicating factors here, such as photography on military bases, indecent photographs of children and voyeurism, as I'm assuming that they're not relevant to your question).

So, for example, it's not illegal to film someone in the street. Nor is it illegal to stand outside someone's house, on a public footpath, and film them through their windows. (Once again, I'm not referring to voyeurism here, which involves filming for the sexual gratification of the cameraman, or of others. That's covered by specific legislation, which I'm assuming isn't relevant here).

Where a photographer or video-maker records images on private property, without the consent of the owner of that property, he/she is still not committing a criminal offence. It's purely a civil matter.

Separate legislation covers CCTV installations though, with the law requiring that they only cover the property that they're used to protect or, in limited cases, public areas associated such properties (such as customers queuing on a public footpath outside a nightclub).

[Zacs-Master]

let's wait for the experts .....
Or someone who can use a search engine.

[pixie374]

Thank you all x it isn't CCTV Chris, and not about voyeurism. Just an invasion of privacy really.

[Buenchico]

>>> "Taking photos or videos of someone where there is the expectation of privacy is a breach of privacy laws".

The only problem with that statement is that, unlike in certain other countries (e.g. France), the UK doesn't actually have any specific 'right to privacy' laws. All we've got are general principles.

[Zacs-Master]

We have the data protection act, the human rights act, the European Convention of Human Rights and the General data protection regulations.

[pixie374]

Ok, so somebody in their own home, with a camera set up in each room, that they are unaware of.... would that be legal?
It fully seems morally wrong to me, but her daughter will ask tomorrow, no doubt.... and I'm trying to work out what to say!

[Peter Pedant]

If it is happening to you, I would ask the Office of the Information Commissioner

Consent is one sided in the UK but this is private property and pretty obviously strikes me as liable in civil law

Do you remember Antonia "I am not a prostitute" Sancha who honey potted David Mellor. The room was bugged by Mossad, but it was complicated because Sancha was renting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia_de_Sancha

a lot here
https://www.spyequipmentuk.co.uk/spy-laws/

[sandyRoe]

If cameras were set up in the home of a vulnerable person to protect them from suspected abuse by a carer, who'd say that was wrong?

[Peter Pedant]

Sancha again: The couple were conducting their affair in a London flat lent to de Sancha by a friend, Nick Philp. "The person who leaked the story was Nick Philp. I've known him over the years, we weren't very close but we were friends, and because I was excited about this thing I told everybody. I was terribly naive. " burbles Antonia who clearly still hasnt learnt a lesson.

[Peter Pedant]

// This is because the use of a radio transmission bug that transmits on restricted frequencies contravenes the Telecommunications Act and is illegal. It is also against the law to place a listening or recording device in someone else's home.//
still havent found the Act

[barry1010]

Are you saying somebody, not an official, has planted bugs or covert cameras in someone else's house?

[Peter Pedant]

erm Sandy why couldnt the vulnerable person consent?

[pixie374]

Sandy, most people, I would hope! Watching someone getting washed and dressed without their knowledge... "is" abuse.
That isn't the issue here though, anyway.

[pixie374]

Not me, pp, someone who can't speak for herself though.

[pixie374]

Cameras, Barry, yes.

[Peter Pedant]

just states it is illegal

https://www.onlinespyshop.co.uk/uk-surveillance-law-the-essential-guide/

from my point of view, this is a 'do ducks fart in long grass?' type of question