NO CCTV - Latest News
[For our latest articles - see the No CCTV articles page]
New Article - 'UK state makes play for "law breaking powers"– The language of war and the crisis in British Freedoms' - 18th Dec 2020
To get an understanding of how this situation has come about we need to look at the language used in the laws of war and see how it has made its way into the language of freedoms...
"Proportionality" used to rubber-stamp mass surveillance in Sept 2019 Live Facial Recognition JR
How did we get to a place where the police do not consider subjecting members of the public to automated police line-ups as disrespectful of a person's individual rights and freedoms?...
'MASS SURVEILLANCE AND THE DARK WEB OF PICK'N'MIX LAW'
the story of how Boris Johnson was able to sign away the liberties of millions of drivers in London illustrates the rise of a new administrative despotism...
International Working Group on Video Surveillance (IWGVS) publishes open letter to Mayor of London - 27th Jannuary 2017
The letter calls on mayor Sadiq Kahn to reverse a decision made by Boris Johnson in 2015 to allow the Metropolitan Police full access to thousands of Transport for London number plate recognition cameras. The letter was published to coincide with 2nd anniversary of the Mayoral Decision (MD1439) made on 27th January 2015. The letter states:
"London is seen as a world leader in surveillance expansion - not a positive accolade. As London's mayor you have a choice as to whether you challenge that perception or allow politicians around the world to use London as their inspiration in the race to convert our cities into prisons."
Read more at http://iwgvs.org/open-letter-to-london-mayor-jan-2017/
Article - 'NEW UK VEHICLE MASS SURVEILLANCE DATABASE AND 1984 ACTION DAY' - 30th May 2016
New UK number plate mass surveillance database contract awarded to a subsidiary of arms giant (Finmeccanica) involved in fraud prosecution. What could possibly go wrong? If only there was a day of action against such things...
Article - 'The silent increase in London's mass surveillance network, one year on...' - 27th January 2016
A year ago the police in London were granted shared access to Transport for London's ANPR camera network - an increase in the data collected by the police's network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in the capital by 300%.
Surveillance Camera Commissioner publishes a load of BS (British Standards) - 1st April 2015
Back in December we suggested that the Surveillance Camera Commissioner was "only interested in standards and accreditation". We based this on the fact that it is a prominent part of the commissioner's remit to provide a list of standards for CCTV. This is defined in step 8 of the Surveillance Camera Code 12-Step Programme, which in turn was given force by the Protection of Freedoms Act.
Last week he dutifully obliged and published a list of standards, here is a quick summary:
BS EN 62676-1-1, BSIEC62676-4, BS EN 62676-1-2, BS8418, BS EN 62676-2-1, BS EN 62676-2-2, BS EN 62676-2-3, IEC62676-3, BS7858, BS7958, BS8418, BS EN 62676-1-1, BS EN 62676-1-2, BS EN 62676-2-1, BSIEC62676-4, BS7499, BS8591, BS8418, BS5979.
Hopefully your freedoms now feel fully protected.
More info can be found on the surveillance camera commissioner's web page at gov.uk
Home CCTV, the data protection "domestic purpose exemption" and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) - 17th Dec 2014
Data Protection specialist Chris Pounder over at AmberHawk has posted up details of the recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision relating to the "domestic purpose" exemption in the Data Protection Act.
This exemption has up until now meant that people installing home cctv cameras do not have to abide by the data protection act. The ECJ ruling seeks to change the rules where home cameras monitor a public space (e.g the street outside a house).
As far as No CCTV is concerned, because regulation relating to cctv cameras is framed from a data protection perspective issues of right and wrong are not likely to feature in the ECJ ruling or any subsequent regulation.
Read more over at the Hawktalk blog:
http://amberhawk.typepad.com/amberhawk/2014/12/what-does-the-ecj-ryne%C5%A1-ruling-mean-for-the-domestic-purpose-exemption.html
Surveillance Camera Commissioner publishes damp squib Annual Report - 17th Dec 2014
The Surveillance Camera Commissioner has published his first Annual Report. There is little of interest in the report as the commissioner is only interested in standards and accreditation. It's worth remembering that the commissioner came about as the result of the inappropriately named 'Protection of Freedoms Act', introduced by a government who claimed they would reverse the rise of the surveillance state. As another election looms in the UK it is wise to remember how cheap talk is.
The report can be downloaded from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/surveillance-camera-commissioner-annual-report-2013-to-2014
For more on the passage of the Protection of Freedoms Act and the warning we gave about the Surveillance Camera Code/Commissioner and the code's concept of "surveillance by consent", see:
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/the_manufacture_of_surveillance_by_consent.htm
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/no_cctvs_formal_response_to_surveillance_camera_code_con.htm
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/no_cctvs_submission_to_the_protection_of_freedoms_bill_committee.htm
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/the_freedom_committee_cctv__anpr_and_the_manufacture_of_consent.htm
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/mr_jolly_gives_pro-cctv_committee_something_to_think_about.htm
- http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/protection_of_whose_freedoms_bill_-_cctv_and_2nd_reading_bingo!.htm
New 1984 Action Day Promo Video
8th June is International 1984 Action Day - a day of action to mark the date of the publication of George Orwell's novel '1984'. The book was first published in 1949 so this year is Big Brother's 65th birthday. Surely it is time for Big Brother to retire...
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/caseagainst/videos.asp?v=0
New Article: 'Trust Me I'm A Camera - The 5 Laws of FFUCams' - 2nd May 2014
When it comes to lying, cameras are clearly more trustworthy, reliable and generally better than people. Everyone has known this since the phrase "the camera never lies" was first discovered in 1857...
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/trust_me_im_a_camera_-_the_5_laws_of_ffucams.htm
New Press Release: 'ICO RULING REPLACES ROYSTON "RING OF STEEL" WITH MASS SURVEILLANCE ROULETTE' - 7th March 2014
After over two and a half years of deliberation, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ruling on Royston's "ring of steel" has side-stepped the real issues at the heart of the mass surveillance Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR) camera network...
Read the press release:
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/press/press_release_25.pdf
More analysis to follow shortly.
New Article: 'The Manufacture of "Surveillance by Consent" part 2 - 14th October 2013
New article 'The Manufacture of "Surveillance by Consent" part 2 - Is mass surveillance so bad if you can't see it?'
What happens when the whole state and its every function become one massive security service...
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/the_manufacture_of_surveillance_by_consent_part_2.htm
No CCTV report "What's Wrong With ANPR?" - 2nd October 2013
No CCTV's new report exposes the dangers of Automatic Number Plater Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
Download the report at: http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/whats_wrong_with_anpr.asp
Business as usual - New Surveillance Camera Code Published - 12th August 2013
The Home Office launched their Surveillance Camera Code of Practice today (12th August). No CCTV has been critical of the concept and execution of this code from the start and particularly the ridiculous concept of "surveillance by consent" (see http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/blog/the_manufacture_of_surveillance_by_consent.htm)
The code is too little too late. Over 20 years ago the government of the day was talking about the need for a CCTV code, and since then the cameras have spread into schools, pubs, taxis, buses, where there are now more cameras than there used to be in town centres. And yet we are hearing the same broken record suggesting that a code will make everything all right.
But there already is a CCTV code - published by the Information Commissioner's Office. This new code is not new, it is just a box ticking exercise, designed to allow surveillance as usual whilst creating an illusion of public consent.
The Home Office minister Lord Taylor last month summed it up when he said the whole focus of the code is "going to be on improving the effectiveness of surveillance". Not restoring lost freedoms - improving the effectiveness of surveillance. Of course this code came about because of the Protection of Freedoms Act but it looks as though it would have been more at home in a Protection of Surveillance Act.
The government is backing away from its promises to restore lost freedoms - throughout the passage of the protection of freedoms act and then the subsequent vote on the code - there was no discussion of freedoms in relation to CCTV. Instead politicians on all sides chose to play a childish game of "who loves CCTV the most". It says something about the surveillance culture in Britain that we are still talking about how many cameras there are or how effective they are. All of the evidence shows they aren't effective - BUT even if they were we should be talking about the loss of freedoms and destruction of trust caused by the levels of blanket surveillance we are being constantly subjected to.
A report 'Fortress Britain' published this year by the New Economics Foundation showed that cameras have a negative impact on communities - increasing fear and lowering trust. The report describes a school in Hertfordshire with 162 cameras, 18 of which are in the toilets. Yet the school says it complies with the guidance it received...
It used to be that in the course of law enforcement, probable cause or reasonable suspicion was required before information could be collected and retained. But with CCTV information is collected with no reasonable suspicion - so information on thousands of innocent people engaged in lawful activities is unnecessarily collected.
Instead of just rushing into installing CCTV much more probing questions need to be asked, questions like:
- What is the problem to which you think this technology might be the solution?
- Whose problem is it?
- What new problems might be created by trying solving the original problem with this technology?
- What other less intrusive solutions have been considered/tried?
- How will your success or failure be measured?
- If the cameras don't help will they be removed?
The new code is a how-to manual - how to create a "compliant surveillance system" by ticking boxes. One such box is about defining a "legitimate aim" for cameras - and it lists the aims where the right to Privacy in the Human Rights Act can be effectively side-stepped. In other words it spells out how to get around the already weak privacy protection the Human Rights Act provides. Like the Regulation Of Investigatory Powers Act, that led to a massive increase in snooping by local councils, this will most likely lead to a further increase in state surveillance.
