Need advice on webcam privacy

[stoffer]

I have set up a webcam view of a village scene from such a distance you cannot see or identify people. One of the house owners in the scene claims I am invading his privacy. The camera is not zoomed in on his windows. Can anyone advise me on this or point me to relevent law. You can see the webcam at http://www.boshamwebcam.com/images/boshamwebcam.html

[DavidT]

Don't worry... people really don't need to actually see your webcam to tell you.

Possibly needs confirming, however, anything like that which is taken in the public domain can not be classed as an invasion of privacy.

You'd get in trouble doing it in areas that are private, or probably that people have reason to expect to be private (bathrooms, bedrooms etc).

[TWD-Tony]

We have a webcam setup in the small town where I live and I know the "operator" who has had several visit's from the local police since he started operating them...

Take a look at the Information Commissionaire's website for the full details but I *THINK* that as long as nobody can be personally identified by the cam and you have a privacy policy and data protection act statement on the website then you are okay... You should *NOT* store the images collected by the webcam and only stream them - if you keep them then you are into the complicated realm of data protection

[stoffer]

Thats very kind Tony

Exactly the sort of advice I need, I apologise for being a total novice at this kind of thing but do not want to step on any toes!

Not looking forward to the police turning up and the irony is, there are millions of cctv cameras around, and face recognition on the way if not already in use.

Well the camera is nearly a half kilometer from the village so there is no identification issue. Is there a standard privacy policy and data protection statement that I can just copy and paste? and if so where from? or does it have to be totally pesonalised or edited to suit? I am not archiving any photos of the webcam and just streaming so no data protection problems.

Any other advice welcome!

[fisicx]

Try this one: Privacy Policy