An English court has recently ruled that the Defendant’s use of security cameras on his property had breached the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in respect of the Claimant, who was his neighbour. The court held that the Claimant was entitled to compensation and an order to prevent the continued breach of her rights, and that the use of the devices amounted to harassment.
The security devices in this case were the Amazon Ring security camera and video doorbell. Following on from this, Amazon has advised purchasers of their range of Ring security cameras and doorbells to respect their neighbours’ privacy. These Ring devices have an in-built camera and/or microphone and are accessible remotely via the Ring App.
The court held that the video and audio recordings of the neighbour captured by the devices were her personal data. The court held that the ability to capture and record conversations at ranges of between 12-20 meters away was excessive and well beyond the range of video that it captures. This ability exceeds what is reasonable for the legitimate purposes of crime prevention, and could be achieved by a lesser range of audio recording.
It should be noted that as this is a Country Court ruling, it is not binding on other courts and the court did not expressly determine that a standard video doorbell breaches privacy laws. Legal commentators have described this case as very contentious and with circumstances that are quite extraordinary. The judgment is available at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Fairhurst-v-Woodard-Judgment-1.pdf