The report “Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance” by the Royal Academy of Engineering raised concerns about the prevalence of cameras and privacy issues. It received wide press coverage and fuelled other claims that the UK was becoming a “surveillance society”.
In response, Mark Bouldin of Telindus, said his company had carried out a recent survey and found the public has accepted CCTV as part of everyday life and only 20 percent of respondents felt the UK had too many cameras.
“The key issue raised by the report is that of privacy, rather than the prevalence of CCTV technology. Access to data from public space CCTV systems is limited by the Data Protection Act so if anyone can gain access to the CCTV images it is clearly a misuse of the system and simply proves the importance of having a competent integrator to ensure security. The suggestion that terrorists would break into a public space CCTV system to analyse the best place to locate a bomb is preposterous as, if it is a public space where anyone can stand, why not just visit the area itself?”