February 12th, 2008
Surveillance society needs privacy safeguards
Writing in the Washington Post, Frank Baitman, of the British-based Petards Group, which develops advanced surveillance systems, says that the time has come for some federal legislation on how surveillance images are captured, stored and shared.
As an increasingly sophisticated surveillance blanket covers more of the United States, we need federal laws to preserve an individual’s right to privacy while setting principles governing the use of closed circuit television and other surveillance technologies for bona fide security purposes.
Baitman called on Congress to pass laws that will limit surveillance tech’s potential for misuse, penalizes those who abuse the technology, and promotes the adoption of open standards for interoperability.
Baitman says the U.S. should follow the lead of Britain, “the world leader in video surveillance” with more than 4 million surveillance cameras in use.
Britain’s experience has been helped by legislation passed 10 years ago that put public surveillance under national control. The Data Protection Act of 1998 set clear and consistent guidelines for video monitoring of public spaces, and created the information commissioner’s office as the regulatory authority. A code of practice established privacy principles, provided guidelines for safeguarding the use of video images and gave industry a framework for doing business.
The British government also created a partnership between the criminal justice system, local police forces, government departments, the closed-circuit television industry and the Home Office (similar to our Department of Homeland Security) that resulted in a consensus on how and when video surveillance should be used in public spaces.
Bottom line: The U.S. must follow Britain’s lead and enact privacy laws regarding these images.
