But Gareth Crossman from Liberty said: " Not many people know that if their camera looks onto public or a neighbour's property they are bound by the data protection act and they must comply with some very severe restrictions."
The police, too, say CCTV cameras need to be used properly - otherwise they may not be able to be used in evidence , and their images could be challenged in court.
I guess some are better than others I like evocam (Mac) of course some might need drivers, eveocam has the ability to let you stream live events. I've heard here at uni. they are looking at all sorts of improvements to software including skin colour recognition, but \I can see that causing PC problems and I don;t mean software errors.
A very simple and low cost (about £10) solution is to set up a webcam in the window, and configure the software to take a snapshot every 3 to 5 seconds, or else capture a small or low-resolution stream.
From my reading around it looked like you need an infeasibly good image to be allowed to use it in court (for example - head and shoulders filling 50% of the frame). I'm no expert though - that may be paranoia..
The Information Commisioners Office has released CCTV guidelines on where you can point the cameras etc:
Although the above link results in an error .... the source of the information also states quite clearly :....
" The Data Protection Act does not apply to individuals' private or household purposes. So if you install a camera on your own home to protect it from burglary, the Act will not apply."
We had a Swann 4ch Standalone DVR w/ Motion activated Recording but have upgraded to one that can be viewed on the computers. It served us well and is now on ebay!
We set the areas to cover only our property though and the cameras are quite visible.
If you've only got one set of nasty neighbours have you got support from others? The more people who witness and report problems the better. Do you know your PCSO? And do you report every incident? You can ring up and report things and say you don't need an officer to call but you just want to report the incident and ALWAYS get a log number.
Consider joining neighbourhood watch for instant regular access to loads of local police people. It never hurts to have the inspector pop down to see what's going on :)
Keep a diary and take photos of damage. It's soul destroying having nuisance near your home and will easily take over your life. Note every incident in the form of date, time, who was involved, where it was, what time did it start, finish and who else witnessed it, and how it made you feel. Basically what the council has on it's ASB forms. I can email you a blank one if you want as an idea of what you should be writing down.
But surely you can have image enhancing software? I'd seen it on CIS - they take standard CCTV footage and manage to read a car numberplate miles away - so small you can barely tell what make the car is.
"The use of cameras for limited household purposes is exempt from the DPA. This applies where an individual uses CCTV to protect their home from burglary, even if the camera overlooks the street or other areas near their home. Images captured for recreational purposes, such as with a mobile phone, digital camera or camcorder, are also exempt.
"Example: If you make a video of your child in a nativity play for your own family use, this is not covered by data protection law."
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