25/01/2008 Session
In the 1980s, in response to the public’s growing sense of insecurity and the demand for more effective crime prevention and punishment, video surveillance started spreading from private and semi-private premises into public areas. Its impact on crime has never been proven, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) now sees it as a possible threat to human rights because of its impact on privacy and data security.
In accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the Assembly believes that data derived from video surveillance should be treated with care, and privacy respected. Following the proposals of rapporteur Yuri Sharandin (Russia, EDG), the Assembly recommends that software automatically shielding certain "privacy zones", e.g. apartment windows, from video observation should be deployed. To reduce the risk of unauthorised access, it also wants compulsory encryption of video data.
Since different countries have different laws in this area, the Assembly calls on member states to follow the Council of Europe’s 2003 guidelines on the collection and processing of video surveillance data, to adopt standard signs indicating the presence of video surveillance cameras, and to continue working on this question.
Guiding principles for the protection of individuals with regard to the collection and processing of data by means of video surveillance – Report of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), May 2003.