Surveillance camera on public spaces and in owners' community

Part one: Video surveillance cameras on public space 

 

1.1 Military security cameras: origin of current video surveillance cameras 

 

Let's start with a multiple-choice question: What year would you say that the first 'security camera' was launched in the world?

a) 1962

b) 1942

c) 1952 

 

The correct answer is "b", that is, 1942.

That first security camera was literally it allowed to supervise without danger and in direct the correct trajectory of the first ballistic missile of the world: the Nazi V-2.

This weapon caused many victims in Belgium, we strongly condemn it. Walter Brusch, the creator of the security camera, conceived it, starting from his iconic television camera... Used for sports broadcasts at the 1936 Olympics.

 

1.2 CCTV cameras in public space; overview of international regulations

 

Nowadays video surveillance cameras are capable of recording images. As a result of this development, they are on public roads, in: streets, shops, sports venues, public transport, etc. This fact awakened the concern to protect the citizen against video surveillance and this technology can be placed at the service of the arbitrariness of the State.

Faced with this power, the public authorities articulate two types of response, on the one hand, the repressive response that puts security before individual rights, and on the other hand, the guaranteeing response that attempts to balance security with scrupulous respect for rights and the possibility of bringing violations of these rights before the courts. 

 

1.2.1 The repressive answer

 

In China and the States, leaders in the ranking of the most installed video surveillance cameras, under normal conditions, the citizen is largely unprotected against the improper use of images. When, on the other hand, the State considers that there is a danger, the citizen's lack of protection becomes total.

This is so because the authorities of these countries -and of many others- practice a very extensive interpretation of the legal assumptions that allow them to enter in situations where, in strict compliance with their legal order, they can set in motion assumptions such as: 'anti-terrorist alert' and 'threat to the State' then the possessor of the images has no obligation to safeguard the privacy of the citizen.

 

1.2.2 The guarantee answer 

 

The European Union (henceforth EU) within its territory (excluding its external borders) is the paradigmatic example of citizen protection. Thus, since 2018 there is in force the strict "General Data Protection Regulation" (hereinafter GDPR) check this link to study the regulation. Certainly, at Finques Feliu we  adopted this legal obligation from the very beginning. 

A note, as stated in the web security notebooks, the GDPR does not explicitly talk about video surveillance cameras. The reason is that: 'the capture of images of physical persons by video camera systems, falls within the framework of what according to the same RGPD understands as 'personal data and data processing', therefore, it is not necessary to make specific reference to video surveillance cameras.

However, In Spnish case does the processing for video surveillance purposes regulate . This reference is to article 22 of the "Ley Orgánica 3/2018" in this link you can access this legislation.  

Artificial intelligence can also perform remote recognition and facial recognition. Therefore, it also enters in this text, in fact this 2023 the European Parliament is debating the European Law on Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter AI): 

This norm classifies as 'AI systems of unacceptable risk':

'Those dedicated to real-time and remote biometric identification as well as those for facial recognition".

This qualification - unacceptable risk - will have, however, exceptions: remote biometric identification systems in which this recognition will only be allowed in two circumstances: when the crimes being prosecuted are serious and, in addition, there is prior judicial approval. In this link you can see the passed European regulation on Artificial Intelligence which is in force from 13th of March .  

 

Second part: video surveillance cameras in common areas of homeowners' associations 

 

We have dedicated the first part to the public space in this second part, we analyze how to place cameras in a totally legal way in the community of owners.

The corridors, the stairs or the gardens of the owners' community are common areas. Even though they are within the private property, they have an evident connection with the public space: soon or later there will pass people who do not reside there, for example, workers hired to carry works in the owners' community or guests of the different co-owners.

Let us be clear, it is necessary to avoid uses contrary to the law.

2.1 Owners' communities: common areas

The images capture in common areas or common elements of property owners' associations requires the agreement of the owners' meeting in accordance with the terms of the Horizontal Property Law.

In this article, our source will be the guide of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD in Spanish acronym). 

 

a) The first to be detailed about the video surveillance system will be:

- The number of cameras and in which areas they operate (masks must be placed on the cameras to prevent the public area or third parties' homes from being tapped). 

- Specific cases of image processing for security purposes.

 

b) A signposting of the video surveillance cameras will be made in a very visible place by placing one or several signs at all the accesses where the video-surveilled area.

By the way, the AEPD has a model of poster that can be found by typing ' cartel de videovigilancia RGPD' in Google (it does not correspond to the one that illustrates the news because it must be copyright free).

In these posters it must always be stated: 

- The existence of the data processing and registrations 

- The identity of the person responsible for it 

- The possibility of exercising the rights these are collected from article 15 to 22 of the RGPD, under the following three sections:

 

•  Information and access to personal data
•  Rectification and deletion (of these data)
•  Opposition right (to the processing of data and automated decisions).  

In this link you can consult all the articles of the RGPD.

c) The access to the images registered in the cameras will be restricted to the persons expressly authorized for this viewing. If an Internet connection is required, it must be protected by a secure password (with a minimum of twenty characters combining upper and lower case letters, numbers and hyphens, and this password must be changed every three months).

d) It will be obligatory to facilitate to the persons affected by a treatment of personal data all that foreseen in article 13 of the RGPD you can consult it by clicking on this link.

e) To contract the service of video surveillance of the Community of Proprietors with an external company, by no means the Owners' Community is exempt of the strict fulfillment of the regulation.

With all that we have discussed you have the means to protect the security of the community of owners and to guarantee all the rights of those who enter.