'Eye spy' watchers on the streets where we shop

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Shortland Street has been overtaken as the most-watched street in New Zealand.

And we're not talking television ratings.

The booming popularity of security cameras means an Aucklander strolling up Queen St is filmed about 80 times.

Although increasingly sophisticated technology is reaching the New Zealand market, most surveillance cameras are simple systems operated by shop or property owners.

Lack of regulations means no one has any idea how many lenses are trained on the public.

What is evident is that cameras have proliferated.

On the 800m stretch of Queen St from Downtown to the Town Hall, the Herald counted 77 cameras focused on the footpath or on shop entrances.

That does not include the 16 police-operated surveillance cameras in the central business district.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said police had registered 18 closed-circuit television systems involving at least 112 cameras throughout the country.

But this is just a small fraction of the number of cameras that are rolling. Systems are also run by local councils and the private sector.

The Tauranga District Council, for example, has 26 cameras, including eight at Mt Maunganui.

The Privacy Commissioner's Office said yesterday that some of the largest-scale schemes were found in the private sector.

The closed-circuit setup in the apartment, hotel and shopping complexes on Princes Wharf alone was more extensive than the police system in downtown Auckland.

Yet the only rules relating to surveillance cameras are the guidelines the police drew up for their systems in 1995.

Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane said he was considering issuing a code of practice for closed-circuit television in all public places because of the increasing number of systems operated by organisations other than the police.

Local bodies and private companies would then be clear on what was acceptable.

Private-sector use of security cameras has expanded rapidly in recent years, thanks in part to cheaper technology and its availability over the internet.

Security Industry Association executive member Stephen Bambury said this was not necessarily a good thing.

With no controls over who could import cameras suitable for surveillance, systems could fall into the hands of people intent on using them unscrupulously.

"We really have no idea how many products are coming into the country," said Mr Bambury, business manager of Advanced Camera Technologies.

He said people interested in installing cameras should talk to a member of the association.

Its members were bound by ethical standards governing the proper use of equipment, and helped companies adopt ethical and practical guidelines on how to use their systems to avoid misuse.

Herald Online feature: Privacy

Privacy Commissioner (NZ)

Electronic Privacy Information Centre (USA)

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