Surveillance watchdog alarmed at lack of awareness among councils over CCTV equipment and human rights concerns

The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner has said he is alarmed by the number of local authorities unaware of the camera equipment they use and whether they should be concerned about human rights issues associated with the equipment.

Reporting the results of a survey of councils on their use of surveillance camera systems in public places, Fraser Sampson said: "[The] most alarming aspect of this survey is the extent to which local authorities do not appear to have the most basic information on what camera equipment they are using and whether they have any concerns about the security or human rights issues."

It added: "Against a backdrop of increased public space surveillance and heightened levels of concern, it is difficult to see in what basis the public can have confidence in the deployment of cameras for which local authorities are responsible."

The Commissioner sent the survey to 354 councils in July last year, following a call by MPs and peers for a ban on the sale and operation of HikVision and Dahua surveillance technology over the companies' alleged involvement in human rights abuses in China.

The cross-party group argued that the two companies should be black-listed for "their involvement in technology-enabled human rights abuses in China".

Both Dahua Technology and HikVision have vigorously denied the claims.

The Commissioner's survey found that the majority of councils did not know whether they were using cameras or equipment supplied by companies (outside the UK) about which they had any security or ethical concerns, the survey showed.

But in almost every case where councils were able to identify their security camera supplier, the chief supplier was Hikvision.

Only 112 councils provided an answer to the question about what due diligence they had undertaken to assure themselves that the companies with whom they were in surveillance partnership were not connected to modern slavery or posed a risk to national security.

Of the 112 councils, all but five stated that this due diligence had been considered in the procurement process.

Of the 143 replies, 130 (90%) councils indicated that they considered the cyber security of their equipment while three stated that they didn't (the remainder made no reply to the question)," the report noted.

Adam Carey